Bibliography. 39 



ropean Turkey bordering on the Adriatic Sea. A better 

 marked variety — the Smyrnian bees — from Western Asia, are 

 also much praised by some of the noted Austrian bee-keepers, 

 as are also the Caucasian, from the Caucasus Mountains, which 

 are said to be very active and amiable. It is quite likely that 

 some of these varieties might be found to endure our severe 

 winters better than the pure German type or the Italians. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



It would be a pleasing duty, and not an unprofitable one, 

 to give in this connection a complete history of entomology so 

 far as it relates to Apis mellifica. But this would take much 

 space, and as there is quite a full history in books that I shall 

 recommend to those who are ea^er to know more of this inter- 

 esting department of natural history, I will not go into details. 



Aristotle wrote of bees more than three hundred years B.C. 

 Aljout three hundred years later, Virgil, in his fourth Georgic, 

 gave to the world ■ the views then extant on this subject, 

 gathered largely from the writings of Aristotle. The poetry 

 will ever be remarkable for its beauty and elegance — would 

 that as much could be said for the subject matter, which, though 

 full of interest, is also full of errors. A little later, Columella, 

 though usually careful and accurate in his observations, still 

 gave voice to the prevailing errors, though much that he wrote 

 was valuable, and more was curious. As Mr. Langstroth once 

 said to me, Columella wrote as one who had handled the things 

 of which he wrote ; and not like Virgil, as one who was deal- 

 ing with second hand wares. Pliny the elder, who wrote in 

 the first century, A.I)., helped to continue the erroneous opin- 

 ions which previous authors had given, and not content with 

 this, he added opinions of his own, which were not only with- 

 out foundation but were often the perfection of absurdity. 



After this, nearly two thousand years passed with no pro- 

 gress in natural history ; even for two centuries after the re- 

 vival of learning, we fiind nothing worthyof note. Swammer- 

 dam, a Dutch entomologist, in the middle of the 17th century, 

 wrote a general history of insects; also, "The Natural History 

 of Bees." He and his English contemporary, Kay, showed 

 their ability as naturalists by founding their systems on the 

 insect transformations. They also revived the study and 

 practice of anatomy, which had slept since its first introduc- 



