page_title: Jan Swammerdam
section_title: Research on bees
hierarchical_section_title: Jan Swammerdam / Bybel der nature / Research on bees
caption_attribution_description: Reproductive organs of the bee. Rare Books Keywords: Entomology; Jan Swammerdam
context_page_description: Jan Swammerdam was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. His work on insects demonstrated that the various phases during the life of an insect—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—are different forms of the same animal. As part of his anatomical research, he carried out experiments on muscle contraction. In 1658, he was the first to observe and describe red blood cells. He was one of the first people to use the microscope in dissections, and his techniques remained useful for hundreds of years.
context_section_description: In Biblia naturae the first visual proof was published that his contemporaries had mistakenly identified the queen bee as male. Swammerdam also provided evidence that the queen bee is the sole mother of the colony. Swammerdam had engaged in five intense years of beekeeping. He had found that drones were masculine, and had no stinger. Swammerdam identified the worker bees as "natural eunuchs" because he was unable to detect ovaries in them, but described them as nearer to the nature of the female. Swammerdam had produced a drawing of the queen bee's reproductive organs, as observed through the microscope. Since ancient times it had been asserted that the queen bee was male, and ruled the hive. In 1586 Luis Mendez de Torres had first published the finding that the hive was ruled by a female, but Torres had maintained that she produced all other bees in the colony through a "seed". In 1609 Charles Butler had recorded the sex of drones as male, but he wrongly believed that they mated with worker bees. The drawing Swammerdam produced of the internal anatomy of the queen bee was only published 1737. His drawing of the honeycomb geometry was first published in Biblia naturae, but had been referenced by Giacomo Filippo Maraldi in his 1712 book. Details of Swammerdam's research on bees had already been published elsewhere because he had shared his findings with other scientists in correspondence. Among others Swammerdam's research had been referenced by Nicolas Malebranche in 1688.
caption: Swammerdam's drawing of the queen bee's reproductive organs, as observed through the microscope.
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