Fig. 2. Bienenschwarm. Fig. 3. Erstes Element eines Bienenschwarms. Fig. 4. Der Bonnet’sche Bienenkorb.

Title

Fig. 2. Bienenschwarm. Fig. 3. Erstes Element eines Bienenschwarms. Fig. 4. Der Bonnet’sche Bienenkorb.

Description

The illustrations show the first element of a swarm of bees, a swarm of bees and Bonnet's beehive.

ca. 1840

Artist

Pfennig-Magazin (1833-1855)

The Pfennig-Magazin, published in association with the Gesellschaft zur Verbreitung gemeinnütziger Kenntnisse (Society for the Dissemination of Charitable Knowledge), was the first weekly German magazine to combine text and images to communicate popular scientific, particularly medical and natural history knowledge. The Pfennig magazines are considered the forerunners of illustrated magazines. The first magazine of this type was the Penny Magazine, published in England from 1832, which aimed to disseminate useful knowledge at an affordable price for the middle and working classes. Similar publications were also published in other countries, such as Le Magasin pittoresque in France. Martin Bossange, the Parisian publisher of the Magasin pittoresque, arranged for a German edition to be published via his Leipzig branch bookshop. The Pfennig-Magazin appeared for the first time in May 1833 under the editorial direction of Johann Jakob Weber. When the publisher Friedrich Arnold Brockhaus took over the magazine after a short time, Weber set up his own publishing house. All this was made possible by the development of wood engraving, which was less costly to produce than copper engraving and more suitable for large print runs. The Pfennig-Magazin was published weekly from May 1833 to 1855, each issue consisting of eight pages in quarto format, illustrated with up to six wood engravings. No. 1 of the Pfennig-Magazin stated: "The dissemination of useful knowledge is the most beautiful gift one can give to one's century."

Historical Description

Bees (Anthophila) are a group of insects that includes several families of Hymenoptera. Bees are quite a large group with very different species. Many of them, especially the solitary ones, are grouped together under the term wild bees. Bees have a purely vegetarian diet. Their most important food source is sweet plant juices - especially nectar. They are dependent on pollen for their protein supply. Species of the colony-forming genera and families, such as bumblebees, Meliponini and above all honeybees, build up food stores. This serves to survive as a whole colony in food-free periods. Highly social community forms, especially colonies as in honey bees, are the exception among bee species. The overwhelming majority of all bee species are solitary bees, which do not form insect colonies but live alone and only care for their own offspring. As bees make a significant contribution to the preservation of wild and cultivated plants and their yields, their ecological importance is considerable. Bees are among the world's most important pollinators. Bees live on all continents except Antarctica.