429 



BEE 



BEE. 



430 



the wax-workers, than the excavation commences. There seems to be 

 an instinctive desire to perform the work of excavation wherever 

 there is room, even though there may not be sufficient to form a 

 perfect cell ; for we never observe a solid piece of wax in any part of 

 a comb. On the contrary, if by any accident there has been space 

 unoccupied by cells, we find that the wax has been excavated at that 

 part as much as was practicable. 



The bee, impelled by instinct to deposit wax and to excavate, and 

 also guided by an acute sense of feeling in the antennae (probably 

 through the elasticity of the wax) as to the degree to which the 

 excavation should proceed, forms the comb ; and in so doing it seems 

 to act, not from choice, but from a necessity imposed upon it by two 

 antagonist principles, one causing it to deposit and excavate wax, and 

 the other acting through the antennas, and limiting the degree of 

 excavation. 



It is to this desire for performing the work of excavation that we 

 attribute the small excavations about the royal cells, which are said to 

 be for the purpose of facilitating the exit of the young queen. If the 

 wax were removed for that purpose, we do not see why the operation 

 should not be confined to that part through which she makes her 

 escape. On the other hand, if from the wax of the royal cells being 

 thicker than it is in other parts of the comb, the workers are induced to 

 make excavations, and desist only upon the thickness being reduced to 

 that of the ordinary partitions, it follows that it will at last become 

 uniformly thin, as described by Huber ; the reason here given differing 

 from Huber's, but we think more in accordance with the habits and 

 economy of the animal. 



In forming the cells, a hollow is first excavated on one side of the 

 wax-blocks ; this excavation is rather less than the width of a cell, 

 and is immediately followed by two of a similar description on the 

 opposite side of the block. The particles of wax removed in excava- 

 tion are kneaded by the jaws of the bee and deposited on the edges of 

 the intended cells ; the two latter excavations (6, b, fig. 12) are neces- 

 sarily on each side of the first (a, fig. 12), though close to it. In 

 placing the two last-mentioned cells, the bees avoid the opposite part 

 on account of the thinness of the wax, and the size of the wax-block 

 will not admit of their being remote from the first. 



Fig. 8. Fig. 9. Fig. 10. 



Front. Side. Back view. 



The front. Bide, and back views of the block on which 

 the flrBt excavations for the cells are made. 



Fig. 11. 



Fig. 12. 



TV \J 



Fig. 11, Front view magnified. Fig. 12, Transverse section through the same. 



The above are representations of the block and its excavations at 

 this period. Supposing the parts at which the circles nearly come in 

 contact with each other to be of the thickness proper for the partitions 

 of the ce\ls, the parts marked a in the front view and section (figi. 11 

 and 12) being more than the necessary thickness, the bees will (accor- 

 ding to the instinctive principle before mentioned) naturally remove 

 what there is superfluous, thus forming an angle, determined by two 

 intersecting vertic.il planes at the bottom of the cell, inasmuch as at 

 me time the parts marked 6, in the back view and section (figs. 

 10 and 12), will also be removed. The partition between these 

 two but-mentioned cells thus becomes perpendicular and of equal 

 thickness, and is exactly opposed to the angle at the bottom of the 

 first cell. 



By this time the necessary secretion of wax has taken place in all 

 the bees composing the festoons, and they are all anxious to dispose 

 of their scales 

 of wax. The 

 sculpturer- 

 re also 

 active, conse- 

 quently more 

 wax ia added 

 to the margins 

 of the original 

 block, and 

 more exca- 

 vations are Fit;. 

 formed. Supposing the block to have increased to double its original 

 length and width, there would then be room for parts of four more 

 excavations, on the side on which the first was made (Jig. 13). 



The same operation of reducing the wax in the thick parts marked 

 c having taken place, the sides of ,the first cell also become straight 

 and perpendicular, and by reducing the wax at the parts d to the 

 proper thickness in all the cells, the bottom of the first cell, and 

 upper parts of the two cells beneath, in the diagram, become two- 

 sided. The work on the opposite side of the comb being in the same 

 state of forwardness (for after the commencement it proceeds equally 

 at all parts), will appear thus 



Fig. 15. 



Fig. 14. 



In the above figure the angles at the bases of the cells are cut into 

 the partitions of the opposing cells, and hence it is clearly seen that, 

 from the position of those cells, the perpendicular partitions of the 

 cells on this side must be longer than those of the other, and that the 

 cells themselves must have three quadrilateral plates for their bases. 



In carrying up the sides of the cell, the form is regulated by the 

 intersection of the surrounding circles, as represented in fig. 15. But 

 the circles described in fig. 15, parts 

 of which are shown in most of the 

 other figures, represent those which are 

 inclosed by the hexagons ; whereas we 

 believe the natural circumference of j 

 each cell (supposing it to be cylindri- 

 cal) is that by which the hexagon is 

 inclosed ; hence it will be necessary to 

 imagine the circles partly intersecting 

 each other. 



It has now been demonstrated that 

 the cells of the first tiers on each side 

 are pentagonal ; that the bases of those 

 on one side are. each composed of two 

 plates, while those of the other side 

 are each composed of three plates ; 

 and that, according to the laws laid down, they could not have been 

 otherwise : now as this accords with all the accounts given of the 

 proceedings in the construction of the comb, it seems to prove that 

 the laws which we have laid down, as guiding their formation, are 

 correct. 



We have now followed the progress of the work until the com- 

 mencement of the second tiers of cells : it is unnecessary to describe 

 the formation of these and the following tiers. It is shown that, 

 according to certain laws, the first tiers of each side of the comb 

 become pentagonal, and according to the same laws it is clear that 

 the second and following tiers must become hexagonal ; for the two 

 sides forming the lower boundary of each cell of the first tier, also 

 form the upper boundaries (or partitions) of two cells of the second 

 tiers. As the upper part of the first tier is determined by the roof of 

 the hive (represented by the horizontal line in diagram 13), so is the 

 upper portion of the cells of the second tier determined by the lower 

 portion of those of the first tier ; thus, the upper portion of each cell 

 of the second tiers being composed of two planes meeting at an angle, 

 and the work continuing, as in the progress of the first tier, four more 

 planes will be constructed to form the lower portion, and complete 

 the hexagon. It is thus that all the ordinary cells of a comb are 

 hexagonal, and we believe it is clearly shown that they could not be 

 otherwise, according to the mode of proceeding in their construction. 

 Their form depends entirely upon the commencement of the work, 

 which necessarily throws the cells in such a position that each cell 

 must be surrounded by six others, and consequently have six sides, 

 each side being the common partition of two cells ; and so long as 

 the -cells are of equal diameter they must each be opposed to parts of 

 three other cells on the opposite side of the comb, in such a way that 

 supposing the external surface of the bottom of each cell were hemi- 

 spherical (which would be the case were the wax not removed from 

 the interstices), each hemisphere would touch three others ; but the 

 wax being removed from the interstices and reduced to an equal 

 thickness at all parts, and the bases of the sides of a cell not being all 

 in the same plane, the bottom of each cell is thus formed into three 

 equal rhomboidal pieces in three different planes, the three angles at 

 their junction being respectively the lowest parts or the farthest 

 removed from the mouth of the cell. 



In working the cells, the wax is always found a little thicker on the 



