544 THE FORMS OF TISSUES [ch. 



des obstacles reciproques. On donne plus d'esprit aux mouches 

 dont les ouvrages sont les plus reguliers; les abeilles sont, dit-on, 

 plus ingenieuses que les guepes, que les frelons, etc., qui savent aussi 

 r architecture, mais dont les constructions sont plus grossieres et 

 plus irregulieres que celles des abeilles: on ne veut pas voir, ou Ton 

 ne se doute pas, que cette regularite, plus ou moins grande, depend 

 uniquement du nombre et de la figure, et nuUement de I'intelligence 

 de ces petites betes ; plus elles sont nombreuses, plus il y a des forces 

 qui agissent egalement et s'opposent de meme, plus il y a par 

 consequent de contrainte mecanique, de regularite forcee, et de 

 perfection apparente dans leurs productions*." 



Of parenchymatous cells 



Just as Bonanni and other early writers sought, as we have seen, 

 to explain hexagonal symmetry on mechanical principles, so other 

 early naturalists, relying more or less on the analogy of the bee's 

 cell, endeavoured to explain the cells of vegetable parenchyma ; and 

 to refer them to the rhombic dodecahedron or garnet-form, which 

 sohd figure, in close-packed association, was believed in their time, 

 and long afterwards, to enclose space with a minimal extent of surface. 



* Among countless papers on the bee's cell, see John Barclay and others in 

 Ann. of Philosophy, ix, x, 1817; Henry Lord Brougham, in Dissertations... 

 connected with Natural Theology, app. to Paley's Works, i, pp. 218-368, 1839; 

 C.R. Acad. Sci. Paris, xlvi, pp. 1024-1029, 1858; Tracts, Mathematical and Physical, 

 1860, pp. 103-121, etc.; E. Carruccio, Note storiche sulla geometria delle api, 

 Periodico di Matem. (4), xvi, 20 pp., 1936; G. Cesaro, Sur la forme de I'alveole 

 des abeilles. Bull. Acad. Roy. Belg. (Sci.), Avril 10, 1929; Sam. Haughton, On 

 the form of the cells made by various wasps and by the honey-bee, Proc. Nat. 

 Hist. Soc. Dublin, in, pp. 128-140, 1863; Ann. Mdg. Nat. Hist. (3), xi, pp. 415-429, 

 1863; A. R. Wallace, Remarks on the foregoing paper, ibid, xii, p. 33; J. 0. 

 Hennum, Arch. f. Math. u. Vidensk., Christiania, ix, p. 301, 1884; F. Huber, 

 Nouv. obs. sur les abeilles, ii, p. 475, 1814; F. W. Hultmann, Tidsskr.'f. Math., 

 Uppsala, I, p. 197, 1868; John Hunter, Observations on bees, Phil. Trans. 1792, 

 pp. 128-195; Jacob, Nouv. Ann. de Math, ii, p. 160, 1843; G. S. Kliigel, Mathem. 

 Betrachtungcn iib. d. kunstreichen Bau d. Bienenzellen, Hannoversches Mag. 

 1772, pp. 353-368; Leon Lalanne, Note sur I'architecture des abeilles, Ann. Sc. Nat. 

 Zool. (2), XIII, pp. 358-374, 1840; B. PoweU, Proc. Ashmol. Soc. i, p. 10, 1844; 

 K. H Schellbach, Mathem Lehrstunde • Lehre v. Grossten u. Kleinsten, 1860, 

 pp. 35-37; Sam Sharpe, Phil. Mag iv pp 19-21, 1828; J. E. Siegwart, Die 

 Mathematik im Dienste d. Bienenzucht, Schw. Bitnenzeitung, iii, 1880; 0. Terquem, 

 Nouv. Ann. de M h xv, p. 176, 1856, C. M. Willick, On the angle of dock-gates and 

 the bee's cell, Phtl. Mag. (4) xviii, p. 427, 1859; C.R. li, p. 633, 1860; Chauncy 

 Wright, Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts and Sci. iv, p. 432, 1860. 



