 The Reverend William Mew, of Eastington, Stroud, Gloucestershire, can be identified as the originator of a 'transparent' hive.It followed a design mentioned in Pliny, and was described in 1655 by Samuel Hartlib, in "The Reformed Common-Wealth of Bees".This hive was almost certainly the inspiration for the octagonal hives recorded by Christopher Wren and John Evelyn.