The Life of the Bee 



political scheme of the hive into most 

 unexpected light by basing it upon mater- 

 nity. Finally he produced woodcuts and 

 engravings so perfect that to this day they 

 serve to illustrate many books on apicul- 

 ture. He lived in the turbulent, restless 

 Amsterdam of those days, regretting 

 " Het Zoete Buiten Leve " — The Sweet 

 Life of the Country — and died, worn- 

 out with work, at the age of forty-three. 

 He wrote in a pious, formal style, with 

 beautiful, simple outbursts of a faith that, 

 fearful of falling away, ascribed all things 

 to the glory of the Creator ; and em- 

 bodied his observations and studies in his 

 great work "Bybel der Natuure," which 

 the doctor Boerhave, a century later, 

 caused to be translated from the Dutch 

 into Latin under the title of " Biblia 

 Naturae." (Leyden, 1737.) 



Then came Reaumur, who, pursuing 

 similar methods, made a vast number of 

 10 



