OF ARTS AND SCIENCES : JANUARY 9, 1866. 



81 



Largest angle, 135°.0 



Average of the 24 angles, 119°.5 

 Smallest, 110°.0 



The above measurements were made with an accurate goniometer; 

 those of cells I. and II. by Professor Cooke, and of III. and IV. by the 

 author, and each is the average of three; but, in nearly every case, there 

 is an error of from one to three degrees, which is inseparable from the 

 measurement of surfaces and angles which are not exact. 



When honey cells are built on a curved dividing wall, the bees seem 

 to make no attempt to correct the effect of the converging and diverg- 

 ing lines. In the brood-combs they usually make an attempt, at least, 

 to keep the cavity of the cells of the usual shape ; but in the honey- 

 comb we have seen the mouths of the cell in one diameter expanded 

 to double their usual size. The most of the irregularities seem to 

 have no obvious cause, but all looks as if the bees, aware that close 

 conformity to the type-form was unnecessary for the mere storing of 

 honey, became careless in executing their work. 



The distribution of the wax in the sides and angles of the cells, as 

 seen in the sections, appears to the naked eye quite regular ; but, with 

 the aid of a low power, is often quite the reverse. One can easily detect 

 an inequality in the thickness of the walls, — two different walls of the 

 same cell, or two parts of one and the same wall being not unfrequent- 

 ly the one double the thickness of the other. The excavation of the 

 angles, though sometimes wonderfully exact, is frequently done in such 

 a way that the apices of opposite angles do not correspond. This is 

 equally true of all of the three kinds of cells. In the cells, and still 

 better in the casts of them, one can easily observe the fact that the 

 edges of the sides are never exactly planes, and that consequently the 

 line of union of two adjoining sides is somewhat undulating. 



The statements made in the foregoing pages tend to show that the 



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