48 Pioneers in Entomology, 



subject of natural history. His division of insects was 

 founded upon presence, or absence, and characteristics, of 

 wings. This, like Swammerdam's basis, was too narrow, 

 yet his conclusions were remarkably correct. Linnaeus is 

 noted for his accurate descriptions, and especially for his 

 gift of the binomial method of naming plants and animals, 

 giving in the name, the genus and species, as Apis niellifica. 

 He was also the first to introduce classes and orders, as we 

 now understand them. Many of our best entomologists 

 still accept the orders of insects as given by Linnaeus. 

 When we consider the amount and character of the work 

 of the great Swede, we can but place him among the first, 

 if not as the first, of naturalists. Contemporary with Lin- 

 naeus (also written Linn^) was Geoffroy,who did valuable 

 work in defining new genera. In the last half of the cen- 

 tury appeared the great work of a master in eiitomolog}', 

 DeGeer, who based his arrangement of insects on the char- 

 acter of wings and jaws, and thus discovered another of 

 nature's keys to aid him in unlocking her mysteries. Kirby 

 well says: "He united in himself the highest merit of 

 almost every department of entomology." As a scientist, 

 an anatomist, a physiologist, and as the observant historian 

 of the habits and economy of insects, he is above allpraise. 

 What a spring of self-improvement, enjoyment and public 

 usefulness, is such an ability to observe as was possessed by 

 the great DeGeer. 



Contemporary with Linnaeus and DeGeer, was Reau- 

 mur, of France, whose experiments and researches are of 

 special interest to the apiarists. Perhaps no entomologist has 

 done more to reveal the natural history of bees. Espe- 

 cially to be commended are his method of experimenting, 

 his patience in investigation, the elegance and felicity of 

 his word pictures, and, above all, his devotion to truth. 

 We shall have occasion to speak of this conscientious and 

 indefatigable worker in the great field of insect life fre- 

 quently in the following pages. Bonnet, of Geneva, the 

 able correspondent of Reaumur, also did valuable work, 

 in which the lover of bees has a special interest. Bonnet 

 is specially noted for his discovery and elucidation of par- 

 thenogenesis — that anomalous mode of reproduction as it 



