The Life of the Bee 



these are to be enlarged or lengthened ; 

 though it must be admitted that in this 

 case the " blind building instinct " fails 

 signally to account for their demolishing 

 in order that they may rebuild, or undoing 

 what has been done that it may be done 

 afresh, and with more regularity. I will 

 content myself also with a mere reference 

 to the remarkable experiment that enables 

 us, with the aid of a piece of glass, to 

 compel the bees to start their combs at a 

 right angle ; when they most ingeniously 

 contrive that the enlarged cells on the 

 convex side shall coincide with the reduced 

 cells on the concave side of the comb. 



But before finally quitting this subject 

 let us pause, though it be but for an in- 

 stant, and consider the mysterious fashion 

 in which they manage to act in concert 

 and combine their labour, when simul- 

 taneously carving two opposite sides of a 

 comb, and unable therefore to see each 

 208 



