350 C. DAWSON AND S. A. WOODHEAD [nov. 1899 
indirectly, as previously mentioned, by the thickness of the cooling 
mass. The size of the hexagons may be varied experimentally from 
those of nearly an inch across to others of microscopic dimensions. 
At the time of writing this paper, we have not yet succeeded in 
casting a large sheet of wax containing groups or rows of hexagons so 
perfectly regular as those which are to be seen in a natural comb, or 
in a comb built upon the ordinary manufactured comb-foundation. 
We do not pretend, even after many experiments, to be able to cast 
a foundation of hexagons with the same comparative exactitude as 
those made by a bee. Although we have little doubt that we may 
soon be able to do so, we cannot expect, in a few limited experiments, 
to compete with the bee, whose seeming aptitude is probably the 
outcome of ages of natural selection and adaptation. Yet the bees 
still prefer to adopt our less regular groups or rows of hexagons as 
bases to work upon, rather than pull our wax plate to pieces, so as to 
recast the wax with greater regularity. 
A further outcome of our discoveries is that paraffin wax and 
adulterated beeswax do not assume the same “crystalline” form as 
pure beeswax. 
We have succeeded in producing a variety of characteristic forms 
of these “crystalline” bodies by the treatment of certain waxes with 
other fats, oils, or waxes. The analytical value of these experiments 
we may hope to prove to be very great, both directly and indirectly, 
and to open up an immense field of crystallography in its relation to 
oils, fats, and waxes. 
It has also naturally occurred to our minds that the formation of 
certain intricate structures by other insects may be also more or less 
directly due to crystalline and pseudo-crystalline formations. 
~ UCKFIELD, SUSSEX. 
