d 



food. " The bees with admirable foresight terminate their 

 cares by sealing up each cell, enclosing the nymph with a 

 woven lid." This is Dr. Lardner's account, approaching 

 somewhat nearer the truth. My old friend Dr. Bevan, in 

 his Soney Bee, the best work ever written on the subject 

 leaves the question in a doubtful position, but 

 what he thought the fact when receiving his informa- 

 tion. " The form of these royal cells is an oblong 

 spheroid tapering gradually downwards, and having the 

 exterior full of small indentations, somewhat resembling 

 the rustic work of stone buildings. These cells are in 

 depth about an inch, in diameter about the third of an 

 inch, and smoothly polished within. The mouth of the 

 cell, which is always at the bottom, remains open till the 

 maggot is ready for transformation, and is then closed like 

 the rest, but with a thicker cover." It is to me a marvel 

 how naturalists, having such assistance as the microscope 

 can now give, should so confidently state these obvious errors, 

 and only proves how apt we are to follow in one another's 

 track and seldom consult nature itself for truth. It is with 

 this sole object I have ventured to come before you to-day 

 with a few rough notes, but founded on facts and close 

 observation, and ask you to pardon my crude statement 

 upon a former lecture which has been put forth more to 

 draw the attention of the members of our Club than to 

 teach or promulgate any new theories of my own or as in any 

 way likely to shake the faith of the philosophers who have 

 written and spoken before us as to the correctness of their 

 circular system when applied to the construction of the 

 hexagonal cells of bees and wasps. However, my proofs 

 are my own observations, and if I am mistaken in my con- 

 clusions, I shall be glad to be corrected by any member of 

 the Club. We must therefore conclude (as Eeid and 

 Butler have written) that the bees, although they act 

 geometrically, understand neither the rules nor the 

 principles of the art which they practice so skilfully, and 

 that the geometry is not in the bee, but in the Great 



