Trans. N. Y. Ac, Sci. 108 Fune 9; 
the cell fitted the body of the bee, and that the bee in working 
was necessarily obliged to plaster up the cell in opposition to the 
plastering of adjacent cells; so that symmetry was the result, and 
this gave us the hexagonal system of the honeycomb. 
As the cells are merely mechanical receptacles for honey, the 
idea was suggested that this work might be done by machinery 
and the time of the bees thus saved for the more legitimate 
work of collecting the honey. With this in view, the conception 
of utilizing the old honeycomb was made practical by shaving off 
the caps of the cells, and then by centrifugal action the honey 
would be thrown out, leaving the honeycomb to be filled again. 
Still, as the old honeycomb was needed for showing the genuine 
character of the honey, the invention of man reached out to con- 
struct the honeycomb for the bee, and succeeded in obtaining the 
backing and part of the sidewalls of the cells by punching sheets of 
wax. The first punch was of the form of a cross-section of the 
cell. This did not serve the purpose, as they were often split at 
the corners, and a punch of three lines diverging at angles of 120° 
was used. Such punches, combined in series in a machine, and 
operated by slightly shifting the rows to and fro, produced a comb 
foundation, having cells on each side. 
The first year more than forty thousand pounds of these founda- 
tions were made. The cell walls were one-sixteenth of an inch 
in height, but enough material was put in the wall to construct the 
whole height. The bees would commence at the bottom and thin 
the walls, pushing them outward, and, by continuing this thinning 
operation, the whole material was utilized. Again, when the cells 
were made five to the inch, the bees used them for bee-bread ; 
when made six to the inch, the receptacles were used for honey. 
The PRESIDENT presented a series of lantern illustrations and 
described 
THE SCENERY OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN PARKS, 
The Academy then adjourned to the first Monday in October. 
