Problem of Honevcomb. 



By Charles Dawson, F.G.S., and S. A. Woodhead, B.Sc, F.C.S. 



The hexagonal arrangement of the cells of honeycomb has been 

 generally ascribed to a structural instinct on the part of the bees ; 

 the object of this paper is now to show that the form of the bee- 

 cell is chiefly influenced by a " crystalline " hexagonal formation due 

 to the cooling of the wax. 



While experimenting with waxes and resins one of us (Mr. 

 Dawson) noticed that on cooling the mixture had a tendency to 

 arrange itself in hexagonal forms, from which he surmised that the 

 outline of bee-cells might be primarily due to the natural structure 

 produced in cooling wax. At the instance of Mr. Woodhead, who 

 also recognised the analytical importance of such a discovery, it was 

 agreed to work out the details together in Mr. Woodhead's laboratory 

 at the Agricultural College, Uckfield. 



It was first of all determined that although the addition to bees- 

 wax of resinous substances gave a more pronounced and bolder outline 

 to the hexagons, no such addition to beeswax was necessary for their 

 production. 



If a thin slab of beeswax be melted in a shallow tray (measuring, 

 say, 10x8 inches), which is evenly heated throughout, and is then 

 placed to cool gradually in a warm atmosphere without draught, 

 hexagonal crystalline forms, of the ordinary size of a worker-cell of 

 the hive-bee, will be seen gradually forming at the bottom of the dish. 

 And a similar line of hexagons will be seen to form on the surface of 



O 



the wax round the sides of the dish where the wax first cools. The 

 sides of the hexagons are to be seen forming and branching out in 

 advance of the cooling wax, and when a portion of the wax in the 

 centre of the dish alone remains melted, the remaining hexagons form 

 very rapidly and almost appear to flash out upon the surface. 



The tray should be exactly level and the wax about 1/5 mm. 

 thick and of uniform depth, and the atmosphere of even temperature 

 (say a few degrees below the melting-point of the wax), otherwise the 

 hexagons will be irregular in size and shape. 



It is immaterial how thin the plate of wax is, as the hexagons are 



347 



