Trans. N. V. Ac. Set. 108 .7««^ 9, 



the cell fitted the body of the bee, and that the bee in working 

 was necessarily obliged to plaster up the cell in opposition to the 

 plastering of adjacent cells ; so that symmetry was the result, and 

 this gave us the hexagonal system of the honeycomb. 



As the cells are merely mechanical receptacles for honey, the 

 idea was suggested that this work might be done by machinery 

 and the time of the bees thus saved for the more legitimate 

 work of collecting the honey. With this in view, the conception 

 of utilizing the old honeycomb was made practical by shaving off 

 the caps of the cells, and then by centrifugal action the honey 

 would be thrown out, leaving the honeycomb to be filled again. 



Still, as the old honeycomb was needed for showing the genuine 

 character of the honey, the invention of man reached out to con- 

 struct the honeycomb for the bee, and succeeded in obtaining the 

 backing and part of the sidewalls of the cells by punching sheets of 

 wax. The first punch was of the form of a cross-section of the 

 cell. This did not serve the purpose, as they were often split at 

 the corners, and a punch of three lines diverging at angles of 120° 

 was used. Such punches, combined in series in a machine, and 

 operated by slightly shifting the rows to and fro, produced a comb 

 foundation, having cells on each side. 



The first year more than forty thousand pounds of these founda- 

 tions were made. The cell walls were one-sixteenth of an inch 

 in height, but enough material was put in the wall to construct the 

 whole height. The bees would commence at the bottom and thin 

 the walls, pushing them outward, and, by continuing this thinning 

 operation, the whole material was utilized. Again, when the cells 

 were made five to the inch, the bees used them for bee-bread ; 

 when made six to the inch, the receptacles were used for honey. 



The President presented a series of lantern illustrations and 

 described 



THE SCENERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PARKS. 



The Academy then adjourned to the first Monday in October. 



