Charles Butler (1560–1647) observed that bees produce wax combs from scales of wax produced in their own bodies; and he was among the first to assert that drones are male and the queen female, though he believed worker bees laid eggs.
This volume is an example of the 3rd publication of The Feminine Monarchie, or the Historie of Bees. Publications of the volume are dated: 1609; 1623; 1634; and 1704. It was also translated into Latin in 1673. Butler also composed the madrigal ‘Melissonelos’ (The Bees Madrigal) in 1623, which mimics the piping sounds of bees about to swarm . This may be heard at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2eonteQEps.