Insect Geometry 



the turrets leaning one against the other 

 shall form a solid mass; and economy of 

 material demands that the same partition- 

 wall shall serve for two adjoining cells. 

 These two conditions are incompatible with 

 the regulation architecture, for grouped 

 cylinders touch only along a line, affording 

 no appreciable area of common partition- 

 wall; they leave between them unoccupied 

 intervals, which would prejudice the general 

 stability. What does the builder do to 

 remedy these two defects? 



She abandons the normal outline and 

 modifies it according to the space at her 

 disposal. She alters the shape of the cyl- 

 inder, not as regards the interior, which is 

 still kept rounded to suit the convenience of 

 the larva, the future inhabitant, but as re- 

 gards the outer envelope, which becomes ir- 

 regular and polygonal, filling the interstices 

 with its angles. 



The exquisite geometry promised by the 

 turret first constructed is perforce aban- 

 doned when the complete edifice has to 

 consist of a mass of cells in juxtaposition. 

 Inexactness follows exactness even more no- 

 ticeably at the end of the task. Anxious to 

 strengthen her work and enable it to resist 

 the attacks of the weather, the mason plas- 



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