1899] PROBLEM OF HONEYCOMB 349 
excavation. When they reached the planes of contact of the hexagons, 
either on feeling the minutely raised edges on the surface, or more 
probably on feeling the increased density of the wax, the bees deter- 
mined the limits of their excavation ; and it was then discovered by 
us that the bases of these hexagons were three-sided in the usual 
form of a bee-cell. There are two reasons for the density of the 
wax, namely, the outer edges of the nebule are composed of smaller 
particles and are therefore more compact, also the pressure brought to 
bear on the planes of contact renders the sides of the bodies still more 
compact. Meanwhile, a similar process was going on in the cells which 
lay as nearly as possible in the same irregular wavy line, but the 
work on one side of the sheet was sometimes considerably more 
advanced than on the other, the excavation being brought three or 
four more rows of cells nearer the centre on one side than on the 
other. 
Portions of the débris taken from the centre of the hexagon: were 
now kneaded up by the bees into a kind of froth, and placed above 
the lines of pressure or margins of the hexagons, the residue of the 
débris being put aside for future use. 
The portions placed on the margin of the hexagons speedily 
adhered and solidified, another layer was then added by the bees, and 
this process was repeated, thus forming a series of strata (which may 
be noticed under a magnifying glass on the sides of the complete 
cells); the bees planing and polishing the inner surfaces of the cell 
upwards from the base, taking as guides the planes and angles of the 
hexagons. 
In the places where we had traced the outlines of the hexagons 
in vermilon, the bases of the cells were to be distinctly seen formed 
upon the vermilion outlines.’ Similar experiments have been 
repeatedly tried with the same results. 
In places where the wax plate had been of uneven depth, or had 
cooled too rapidly, the comb presented an irregular appearance follow- 
ing in form the irregular “crystalline” bases beneath, the result being 
very distinctive and striking to the practised eye of an apiarist. 
When in a natural state, the newly secreted wax is formed into a 
small pendent plate, it is probable that the bees crowding around 
produce the required amount of heat to soften or to keep soft the 
newly deposited wax, and allow it to cool very gradually when a few 
“crystalline ” bodies form within the plate, and these must be soon 
afterwards hollowed out and built upon. The same process takes 
place repeatedly against the sides of newly formed hexagons until the 
comb is large enough to suit the requirements of the bee; the sizes of 
the cells being partly influenced and regulated as above stated by the 
rapidity or otherwise of the process of cooling of the wax, and so 
1 A plate of wax formed by compression, and in which no hexagons had formed, was 
inserted in the hive—this the bees gnawed to pieces and (?) utilised elsewhere. 
