APiARiif:. 188 



selves of such adventitious aid. Must we not henceforth, 

 when speaking of the marvels of the hive or the vespiary, erase 

 from our vocabulary such terms as blind instinct ; and nuist wo 

 not cease to stigmatize the bee as a mere nuichine?" 



At the meeting of the same soeiety held Feb. 1, 1M(M, Mr. 

 F. Smith exhibited a collcctinu ol" Wasps' nests, — one of Vespn 

 riifii, the rest of F. rnh/oris; they were in various stages of 

 formation, tiie earliest consisting of only a single cup contair^ 

 ing the first egg, otiicrs consisting of three or four cups, whilst 

 others again were moic com|)li'tc. Tlic whole had been arti- 

 licially olitaiued l)y Mr. Stone, wiio tempte(l the wasps to build 

 by excavating holes in banks :inil rnniishin^ tiiciii with foot« 

 stalks; in fact, Mr. Stoue appeare<| to posm-ss the power of 

 inducing wasps to build tiests of almost any shape lio 

 pleased. 



Hut to return to the cell of the \U'v. It should fust 1)0 

 proved that the cells are not exactly and mathematically per- 

 fect hexagons, though suMlciently so Ini I he purpose for which 

 they are used. In the rrocecdiic'^s ol' Ihr Ameiicnu Academy 

 of Arts and Sciences, vol. \ii, jhc.i;, ri(irrs-.i.t W'vuiau has, by 

 a most careful as well as novel Miid ingeuioiis mode of investiga- 

 tion, prf)ve(| th;it the <'ells are all more or less imperfect, and 

 that a hexagoii.il < .11 iiiathematically exact, does not exist in 

 nature, but only iu llicoiy. 



Th<; form of the ••cjl is liable to luiiiUed v.-uialious, chief 

 among vvhi'li Hi'' rollowing nuiy b<' menlirmcd, in the author's 

 own words : 



"I. The dJMUieteiH of workers' cells may so vary, Hint ten 

 f.l tliiiii iDjiy have an aggregate deviation IVom I lie nomud 

 fjiianllty e(|iial to the diiiirieter of a cell. The average varia- 

 tion is (I littli! less than one half that amount, namely, nearly 

 0.10 inch, in the »amo nntnbor of vv\\». 



'•iJ. TIk! width of the sidcH varies, and this generally in- 

 volvcM a variation of the nngles which adjoining sidc4 mnke 

 with ea<'li other, n\nm the «ldeM vary not only in length but in 

 rlirectir»fi, 



"'{, The. variation in the dinmcter4 does not. depend ii|»on 

 tUU'.'uU'uUi\ distortion, but upon the nmnnei in which the cell 

 waM f»uilt.. 



