136 Mr. F. Smith on the Construction of 
side, serving as a passage for the wasps from floor to floor, the 
entrance being at the bottom of the nest. I have sketched the 
section of one of these nests, and No. 4 in the box of speci- 
mens shows a portion of one of the floors, and also some un- 
finished cells. The nest sketched consists of nine chambers, all 
the floors are finished, but on the six upper ones only cells are 
constructed ; a few are just commenced on the seventh. I have 
seen nests with cells on three floors only. In the nest sketched, 
the two lower floors are unoccupied, not a single cell having been 
commenced. In the box of specimens you will see one of these 
foundation floors without cells, and another upon which a number 
of the most beautiful hexagonal cells were in the course of con- 
struction. Ifthe foundations of the planes of the exterior cells 
are examined, you will find one, two or more planes, clearly 
traced out as it were upon a ground-plan; if plans, so self- 
evident of intention, do not prove the instinctive purpose of the 
architect, I cannot imagine anything to my mind more perfectly 
conclusive. (See Pl. XIII. fig. D.) 
It may not be known to some members of the Society, that in 
order to expedite the building of honey-combs, it is a common 
practice with bee-keepers in Germany to furnish hives with 
artificial foundations for the cells; these consist of sheets of wax, 
upon which is impressed a series of pyramidal hollows; in fact, 
the counterpart of a comb built by the bees themselves, entirely 
deprived of the cell-walls; and it is from such a piece of comb 
that the casts for the artificial foundations are obtained. A piece 
of casting of this description I lay before you, and I particularly 
call your attention to the commencement of the outer cells; you 
will see, in some instances, a single plane of the hexagonal cell com- 
menced, in others two or three are in progress; here you have a 
ground-plan supplied, or, [ may say, the foundations of the 
habitations ready prepared, upon which the labourers are to raise 
the walls, and you may see how admirably they have done it, 
Instinct enables the bee to construct hexagonal cells without 
teaching, and, we are told, in one undeviating manner. Surely the 
example before us exhibits an amount of intelligence on the part 
of the bees in availing themselves of such adventitious aid. 
Must we not henceforth, when speaking of the marvels of the 
hive or the vespiary, erase from our vocabulary such terms as 
blind instinct; and must we not cease to stigmatize the bee as a 
mere machine ? 
Before passing on to other considerations, let us here ask our- 
selves, what assumption naturally arises in the mind when we see, 
