ZOOLOGY. 3G3 



at some interesting results, I am desirous of bringing them before the Asso- 

 ciation. My first experiment consisted in placing a flat parallel-sided 

 block of wax in a hive containing a recent swarm. In this, cells were exca- 

 vated by the bees, at irregular distances. In every case where the excava- 

 tion was isolated, it was hemispherical, and the wax excavated was added at 

 the margin so as to constitute a cylindrical cell. As other excavations were 

 made in contact with those previously formed, the cells became flat-sided, 

 but, from the irregularity of their arrangement, not necessarily hexagonal. 

 When the block was colored with vermilion, the employment of the exca- 

 vated wax in the formation of the sides of the cells was rendered more evi- 

 dent. The experiment has been repeated, with various modifications as to 

 the size and form of the block of wax, but always with the same results, 

 namely, that the excavations were in all cases hemispherical, that the 

 wax excavated was always used to raise the walls of the cells, and that the 

 cells themselves, before others were formed in contact with them, were 

 always cylindrical. Mr. Charles Darwin, to whom I communicated these 

 facts, has repeated the experiments with similar results. When these exper- 

 iments are taken into consideration, in connection with the facts, that, in 

 the commencement of a comb, the rudiments of the first formed cells are 

 always hemispherical, and that in a small extending comb the outer sides 

 of the bases of the external cells are always circular, they appear to lead 

 to the conclusion, that the typical form of a single cell is cylindrical, with a 

 hemispherical base; but that, when the cells are raised up in contact with 

 one another, they necessarily become polygonal, and if regularly built, hex- 

 agonal. On this supposition alone can those numerous cases be accounted 

 for in which one half of a cell is cylindrical, the other polygonal. In all 

 such cases it will be found that, in the cell adjacent to the cylindrical side, 

 there is not room (owing to some irregularity of the comb) for a bee to 

 work, consequently, the cylindrical development is not interfered with. 

 The formation of the small cylindrical cells surrounding the queen-cell 

 appear to admit of no other explanation. The mode in which the circular 

 bases, situated at the thin edge of a comb in the process of enlargement, 

 become converted into polygonal cells as new bases are formed on their 

 outer sides, has been beautifully shown by Mr. Darwin. In repeating, with 

 many ingenious modifications, my original experiments, he colored, with 

 vermilion and wax, the circular edges of the bases of the external cells in a 

 small comb. On replacing this in the hive, he found that the walls of the 

 cells were not raised directly upon these circular bases, but that, as other cells 

 were built external to them, the colored wax was remasticated and worked 

 up into the polygonal sides of the cells, consequently, the color, instead of 

 remaining as a narrow line, became diffused over a considerable portion of 

 the sides of the cells. These observations have been much facilitated by 

 the employment of a hive having each side formed of four parallel plates of 

 glass, with thin strata of air between. As thus formed, the escape of heat 

 is so effectually prevented that the bees work without the necessity of cover- 

 ing the hive with any opaque material, and thus they are always open to 

 observation without being disturbed by the sudden admission of light into a 

 hive previously dark. Crude and imperfect as these experiments may be, 

 they appear to me to have an important bearing on the theory of the form- 

 ation of cells, and my desire that they may be repeated and extended by 

 other observers must plead my excuse for bringing them before the notice 

 of the Association. 



