HIVE-BEES. 135 



polish. The most smgular part of then* proceeding 

 is changing the direction of the work before arriving 

 at the surface of the glass, and while yet at a dis- 

 tance suitable for doing so. Do they anticipate the 

 inconvenience which would attend any other mode 

 of building? iSo less curious is the plan adopted 

 by the bee for producing an angle in the combs: the 

 wonted fashion of their work, and the dimensions of 

 the cells, must be altered. Therefore, the cells on 

 the upper or convex side of the combs are enlarged; 

 they are constructed of three or four times the width 

 of those on the opposite surface. How can so many 

 insects, occupied at once on the edges of the combs, 

 concur in giving them a common curvature from one 

 extremity to the other? How do they resolve on 

 establishing cells so small on one side, while dimen- 

 sions so enlarged are bestowed on those of the other? 

 And is it not still more singular, that they have the 

 art of making a correspondence between cells of 

 such reciprocal discrepance ? The bottom being com- 

 mon to both, the tubes alone assume a taper form. 

 Perhaps no other insect has afforded a more decisive 

 proof of the resources of instinct, when compelled to 

 deviate from the ordinary course. 



" But let us study them in their natural state, and 

 there we shall find that the diameter of their cells 

 must be adapted to the individuals which shall be 

 bred in them. The cells of males have the same 

 figure, the same number of lozenges and sides as 

 those of workers, - and angles of the same size. 

 Their diameter is 3-| hues, while those of workers 

 are only 2|. 



^' It is rarely that the cells of males occupy the 

 higher part of the combs. They are generally in 

 the middle or on the sides, where they are not iso- 

 lated. The manner in which they are surrounded 

 by other cells alone can explain how the transition 



