RlfiAUMUR 271 



The Hive-Bee 



The last part of Volume V is devoted to bees, and 

 Reaumur begins with a full account of the hive-bee, the 

 most interesting of all insects. 



Swammerdam, as we have seen (p. 185), had proved 

 by anatomical examination that the so-called " king of 

 the bees " was really a queen, the only functional female, 

 as a rule, in the hive. This discovery was the most 

 considerable addition made to the knowledge of the 

 honey-bee since ancient times. It was, however, far 

 from being the only one which we owe to Swammerdam, 

 who had worked out in rich detail the general anatomy 

 and the life-history. Reaumur now comes in, simul- 

 taneously with the long-delayed publication of the 

 Bihlia Natures, to enlarge and correct the studies of 

 his predecessor. Far inferior to Swammerdam in ana- 

 tomical knowledge, he enjoyed the advantage of coming 

 after him, and as an observer of the living animal he 

 surpassed not only Swammerdam, but, it is hardly too 

 much to say, all other naturalists who have occupied 

 themselves with insects. After the Histoire des Insectes 

 no great step was taken towards the elucidation of the 

 economy of the hive until Schirach in 1771 proved that 

 the workers are imperfect females. This brings us in 

 sight of the researches of Huber. 



Reaumur was indefatigable in devising experiments 

 to ascertain how bees behave in various contingencies. 

 He made much use of glass hives, so narrow that bees 

 shut up in them could never be very far from one or 

 other of the glass faces. The idea of glass hives was 

 not new. Reaumur quotes Pliny to show that sheets 

 of horn had been used in ancient times to facilitate 

 observation of the work of the bees. Cassini, the first 



