274 THE SCHOOL OF REAUMUR 



fertilised was rediscussed by Reaumur, who got nearer 

 the truth than any of his predecessors or contemporaries. 

 Maraldi had maintained the ancient opinion that the 

 eggs of the queen are fertilised after being laid, like the 

 eggs of fishes. Swammerdam had propounded the theory 

 of an aura seminalis (see p. 191). Reaumur shut up 

 together a queen and a drone, and got indications that 

 the queen is impregnated like other insects. It amused 

 him to remark that the queen made all the advances. 

 The curious history of the wedding- flight was first cleared 

 up by Huber. 



Reaumur found out methods of transferring all the 

 bees of a swarm to a new hive, or of dividing them into 

 companies. He discovered that they can be revived 

 after long immersion in water, and employed this ex- 

 pedient to search a whole swarm, bee by bee. In this 

 way he proved that a hive ordinarily contains but a 

 single queen, and no drones except for a few weeks in 

 the year. He gives a brief but accurate account of the 

 swarming of bees, shows that wholesale destruction at 

 the approach of winter is needless, and recommends the 

 occasional transport of the hives into a flowery country 

 — a practice for which he is able to quote examples of 

 great antiquity. 



At this point the inquiry into the structure, life- 

 history and economy of the hive-bee passes out of our 

 notice. Since Reaumur it has been fruitfully carried on 

 by many naturalists, among whom the Hubers, father 

 and son, Schirach and Dzierzon are pre-eminent. 



Wild Bees"^ 



Reaumur's accounts of the moss-carding bee and the 

 leaf-cutting bee have been often quoted in popular 



1 Vol. VI, Mem. i-v. 



