On the Threshold of the Hive 
wrote in a pious, formal style, with beau- 
tiful, simple outbursts of a faith that, 
fearful of falling away, ascribed all things 
to the glory of the Creator ; and embodied 
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 Nature (Leyden, 
1737). 
Then came Réaumur, who, pursuing similar 
methods, made a vast number of curious 
experiments and researches in his gardens 
at Charenton, and devoted to the bees an 
entire volume of his ‘“‘ Notes to serve for 
a History of Insects.” One may read it 
with profit to-day, and without fatigue. It 
is clear, direct, and sincere, and possessed 
of a certain hard, arid charm of its own. 
He sought especially the destruction of 
ancient errors; he himself was responsible 
for several new ones; he partially under- 
stood the formation of swarms and the 
political establishment of queens; in a 
word, he discovered many difficult truths 
and paved the way for the discovery of 
9 
