MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 45 



of the 18th century, the great Linnaeus — " the brilliant Star 

 of the North" — published his "System Natursfe," and threw a 

 flood of light on the- -whole subject 6f natural hiStOfy: 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 spfecies, 

 as. Apis mellifica. He was also the first to introduce classes 

 and orders, as we now understand them. 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. Cotemporary with Linnaeus (also written Linne) 

 was Geoffroy, who did valuable work in defining new genera. 

 In the last half of the century appeared the great worlt of a 

 master' in entomology, DeGeer, who based his arrangement of 

 insects on the character of wings and jaws, and thus discovered 

 another of nature's keys to aid him in unlocking her myster- 

 ies. 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 his- 

 torian of the habits and economy of insects, he is above all 

 praise. What a spring of self-improvement, enjoyment and 

 of public usefulness, is such an ability to observe, as was pos- 

 sessed by the great DeGeer. 



Contemporary with Linnaeus and DeGreer was Reaumur, of 

 France, whose experiments and researches are of special in- 

 terest to apiarists. Perhaps no entomologist has done more 

 to reveal the natural history of bees. Especially to be com- 

 mended are his method of experimenting, his patience in in- 

 vestigation, 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 shop of insect-life frequently 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 parthenogenesis — that anomalous mode of re- 

 productions—as it occurs among the Aphides or plant-lice, 



