INTRODUCTION. 



If we take a retrospective view of the apiarian know- 

 ledge of the ancients as far back as Democritus, who 

 lived four hundred and sixty years before Christ, we 

 shall find that they directed their attention more to 

 the natural history of the bee than to its economy. 

 The major part, however, of their writings is lost, 

 and the traces of them are only to be found in two 

 works of the seventeenth century, one of which is en- 

 titled, " The Portrait op the Honey Fly, its 

 Virtues, Form, and Instructions how to reap 

 Advantage prom them," printed in 1646. The 

 other was printed in Antwerp in 1649, and entitled, 

 "The Spring op the Honey Fly, divided into two 

 parts, in which will be pound a curious, true, 

 and new History op the admirable and natural 

 Conduct of the Bee, drawn solely from the 

 Hand op Experience." The author of the first of 

 these works is Alexander de Montfort, captain in the 

 service of his imperial and catholic majesty, and who 

 was born in the county of Luxemburg. 



De Montfort estimates the number of authors who 

 have written en bees before his time, at between five 

 a 2 



