1899] PROBLEM OF HONEYCOMB 349 



excavation. When they reached the planes of contact of the hexagons, 

 either on feeling the minutely raised edges on the surface, or more 

 probably on feeling the increased density of the wax, the bees deter- 

 mined the limits of their excavation ; and it was then discovered by 

 us that the bases of these hexagons were three-sided in the usual 

 form of a bee-cell. There are two reasons for the density of the 

 wax, namely, the outer edges of the nebulae are composed of smaller 

 particles and are therefore more compact, also the pressure brought to 

 bear on the planes of contact renders the sides of the bodies still more 

 compact. Meanwhile, a similar process was going on in the cells which 

 lay as nearly as possible in the same irregular wavy line, but the 

 work on one side of the sheet was sometimes considerably more 

 advanced than on the other, the excavation being brought three or 

 four more rows of cells nearer the centre on one side than on the 

 other. 



Portions of the debris taken from the centre of the hexagon were 

 now kneaded up by the bees into a kind of froth, and placed above 

 the lines of pressure or margins of the hexagons, the residue of the 

 cUbris being put aside for future use. 



The portions placed on the margin of the hexagons speedily 

 adhered and solidified, another layer was then added by the bees, and 

 this process was repeated, thus forming a series of strata (which may 

 be noticed under a magnifying glass on the sides of the complete 

 cells) ; the bees planing and polishing the inner surfaces of the cell 

 upwards from the base, taking as guides the planes and angles of the 

 hexagons. 



In the places where we had traced the outlines of the hexagons 

 in vermilion, the bases of the cells were to be distinctly seen formed 

 upon the vermilion outlines. 1 Similar experiments have been 

 repeatedly tried with the same results. 



In places where the wax plate had been of uneven depth, or had 

 cooled too rapidly, the comb presented an irregular appearance follow- 

 ing in form the irregular " crystalline " bases beneath, the result being 

 very distinctive and striking to the practised eye of an apiarist. 



When in a natural state, the newly secreted wax is formed into a 

 small pendent plate, it is probable that the bees crowding around 

 produce the required amount of heat to soften or to keep soft the 

 newly deposited wax, and allow it to cool very gradually when a few 

 " crystalline " bodies form within the plate, and these must be soon 

 afterwards hollowed out and built upon. The same process takes 

 place repeatedly against the sides of newly formed hexagons until the 

 comb is large enough to suit the requirements of the bee ; the sizes of 

 the cells being partly influenced and regulated as above stated by the 

 rapidity or otherwise of the process of cooling of the wax, and so 



1 A plate of wax formed by compression, and in which no hexagons had formed, was 

 inserted in the hive — this the bees gnawed to pieces and (?) utilised elsewhere. 



