118 INSECT ARCHITECTURE. 



of building ? Xo less curious is tlie plan adopted by the 

 bee for producing an angle in the combs : the wonted 

 fashion of their woik, 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 

 dimensions 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 common 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 3g lines, while those of 

 woikers 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 isolated. The manner in 

 which they are surrounded by other cells alone can explain 

 how the transition in size is effected. When the cells of 

 males are to be fabricated under those of workers, the bees 

 make several rows of intermediate cells, whose diameter 

 augments progressively, until gaining that proportion pro- 

 per to the cells required; and in returning to those of 

 workers, a lowering is observed in a manner corresponding. 



"Bees, in preparing the cells of males, previously esta- 

 blish a block or luni}) of wax on the edge of their comb, 

 thicker than is usually emj^loyed for those of workers. 

 It is also made higher, otherwise the same order and 

 symmetry could not be preserved on a larger scale. 



