in fabulous history, a daughter of Me- lissus king of Crete, who with her sister Amalthaea fed Jupiter with the milk of goats. She first found out the means of collecting honey; whence it has been said that she was changed into a bee, as her name is the Greek word for that insect.

Balm, a genus of plants, belonging to the didynamia clas; and in the natural method ranking under the 42nd order Verticillate. See BOTANY Index.