HOW HONEYBEES PRODUCE HONEYCOMB 



325 



cause she can build no other with the 

 building" processes at her command 

 when it comes to grouping - cells side by 

 side with their openings even. Freak 

 cells arise when abnormal conditions 

 are forced upon the insect, as at the 

 edge of the comb, drone cells, queen 

 cells, etc. The most remarkable thing 

 about the honeybee, to my mind, is not 

 its ability to build a comb of wonderful 

 beauty and symmetry, but in the unex- 

 celled equipment which Nature has 



detract from the feasible character of 

 the theory. 



SgE 3|C 3jC 3|C SfC 



"my personal opinion that you are 

 essentially correct." 



The University of Texas, Austin: Pro- 

 fessor D. B. Casteel, School of Zoo- 

 logy. Author of "The Manipulation 

 of the Wax Scales of the Honeybee." 



For the last few years I have been 

 engaged in another line of research, so 

 do not feel entirely competent to give 



given so small a body to produce and you an opinion upon your thesis. How- 



care for half a dozen entirely different 

 products, with perfect precision select- 

 ing each for its best use. Can these 

 capacities be as well explained as can 

 the process of cell building? 



"\ most certainly agree with your 

 view." 



Garrett P. Serviss, Closten New Jer- 

 sey: Well-known, skilled writer of 

 popular science articles. 



I most certainly agree with your 

 view that the bee, like other construct- 

 ing insects, works on the basis of a 

 circle, turning around her own center 

 of gravity as a sort of fulcrum. Dar- 

 win, as I remember, demonstrated this 

 fact. It is easy to see how the hexa- 

 gonal form arises from the simple in- 

 tersection of circles placed at central 

 distances determined by the bees 

 crowding as closely as convenient for 

 working. A single bee working alone 

 will make a circular cell. That fact alone 

 demonstrates the truth of the view that 

 the hexagonal shape of crowded cells 

 is merely a mathematical necessity 

 arising out of the situation and not 

 originating in the brain of the bee. 



:fc j) 5 H* % ^ 

 POETRY WONT CHANGE FACTS. 



Hanover College. Indiana: Professor 

 L. L. Huber. Department of Chemis- 

 try and Biology. 



I have read with unusual interest 

 your article. "Mow Honeybees Pro- 

 duce Honeycomb." especially since 

 your theory concerning the "form of 

 the wax-cell corresponds to a personal 

 theory that I have fostered for some 

 time myself. I know of course that a 

 good number of the "orthodox" poeti- 

 cally inclined nature worshippers who 

 indulge in more sentiment than science 

 reject this, but that does not prove the 

 same false. Nor does the attitude of 

 the commercially inclined bee journals 



ever, my personal, rather than my 

 strictly scientific opinion, is that you 

 are essentially correct in your views. 

 I studied the same problem to some 

 extent when working at Washington 

 about five years ago and I have a num- 

 ber of combs which were constructed 

 under experimental conditions. I was 

 of the opinion at that time, as I now 

 recall, that the form of the wax cells 

 was largely determined by the manner 

 in which they were closely crowded to- 

 gether, and also by the manner in which 

 the bees handled the wax with their 

 mandibles. At least it can be said 

 that a "natural" explanation of this 

 mathematical regularity of the honey- 

 bee cell is far superior to any anthropo- 

 morphic interpretation. 



"ALWAYS TAUGHT THAT THE CELLS WERE 

 MADE IN CIRCLES." 



Rhode Island Normal School, Provi- 

 dence, Rhode Island: Professor Wil- 

 liam S. VinaL Biologist. 



I have always taught that the cells 

 were made in circles and became hexa- 

 gonal through pressure. I have never 

 observed the bee making the cells. Lin- 

 ville and Kelly, Textbook in General 

 Zoology, p. 65 say in regard to the so- 

 cial wasps : "This material is fashioned 

 by the feet and mandibles into circular 

 cells, which became hexagonal as their 

 number is added to and the pressure 

 increases." I have always understood 

 that this phenomenon is common in 

 nature as in the pressure of plant and 

 animal cells the tissues often show 



hexagonal cells. 



# * # * * 



"CLAIM IS ENTIREEY CORRECT." 



Miami University, Oxford, Ohio: Pro 

 fessor J. A. Culler. 



I have read your article with a great 

 deal of interest and think your claim is 

 entirely correct. 



