EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN HIVE 217 
communicating doors, and glass windows in the 
sides of each section. Up to that date bee-hives 
had been merely single receptacles made of straw, 
plastered wattles, or wood. When the stock had 
outgrown its dwelling there was nothing for it but 
to swarm. But by the device of adding another 
story below the first one, when this was crowded 
with bees, and a third or even a fourth if necessary, 
Wren was able to make his hive grow with the 
growth of his bee-colony or contract with its post- 
seasonal decline. He had, in fact, invented the 
elastic brood-chamber, which alone enables the bee- 
master to put in practice the one cardinal maxim of 
successful bee-keeping—the production of strong 
stocks. 
Wren’s octagon storifying hive seems to have 
been plagiarised by most eminent bee-masters of his 
day and after with the naive dishonesty so character- 
istic among bee-men of the time. Thorley’s hive 
is obviously taken from, indeed, is probably identical 
with, that of Wren. The hive made and sold by 
Moses Rusden, King Charles II.’s bee-master, is of 
almost exactly the same pattern, but it is described 
as manufactured under the patent of one John 
Geddie. This patent was taken out by Geddie in 
1675, and Geddie would appear to be the arch- 
purloiner of the whole crew. For it is quite certain 
that, having had one of Wren’s hives shown to him, 
he was not content with merely copying it, but 
actually went and patented the principle as his own 
idea. 
But Wren’s hive, good as it was in comparison 
with the single-chambered straw skep or wooden 
box, still lacked one vital element. Although he 
