260 SPEGIAL INSTINCTS. 



mathematicians that bees have practically solved a recon- 

 dite problem, and have made their cells of the proper 

 shape to hold tlie greatest possible amount of honey, with 

 the least possible consumption of precious wax in their 

 construction. It has been remarked that a sliillful work- 

 man with fitting tools and measures, would find it very 

 difficult to make cells of wax of the true form, though this 

 is effected by a crowd of bees working in a dark hive. 

 Granting whatever instincts you please, it seems at first 

 quite inconceivable how they can make all the necessary 

 angles and planes, or even perceive when they are correctly 

 made. But the difficulty is not nearly so great as at first 

 appears: all this beautiful work can be shown^ I think, to 

 follow from a few simple instincts. 



I was led to investigate this subject by Mr. Waterhouse, 

 who has shown that the form of the cell stands in close re- 

 lation to the presence of adjoining cells; and the following 

 view may, perhaps, be considered only as a modification of 

 his theory. Let us look to the great principle of gradation, 

 and see whether Nature does not reveal to us her method of 

 work. At one end of a short series we have humble-bees, 

 which use their old cocoons to hold honey, sometimes 

 adding to them short tubes of wax, and likewise making 

 separate and very irregular rounded cells of wax. At the 

 other end of the series we have the cells of the hive-bee, 

 placed in a double layer: each cell, as is well known, is 

 an hexagonal prism, with the basal edges of its six sides 

 beveled so as to join an inverted pyramid, of three rhombs. 

 These rhombs have certain angles, and the three which 

 form the pyramidal base of a single cell on one side of the 

 comb enter into the composition of the bases of three ad- 

 joining cells on the opposite side. In the series between 

 the extreme perfection of the cells of the hive-bee and the 

 simplicity of those of the humble-bee we have the cells of 

 the Mexican Melipona domestica, carefully described and 

 figured by Pierre Huber. The Melipona itself is interme- 

 diate in structure between the hive and humble-bee, but 

 more nearly related to the latter; it forms a nearly regular 

 waxen comb of cylindrical cells, in which the young are 

 hatched, and, in addition, some large cells of wax for hold- 

 ing honey. These latter cells are nearly spherical and of 

 nearly equal sizes, and are aggregated into an irregular 



