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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAI, 



[August, 



On the Form of Cells. 



M.^©E BY VARIOUS WaSPS AND BY THE HONEY 



Bee. 



By the Rev. Samuel HaugMon, of Trinity Collegp, 

 Dublin. 



The geometrical form affected by the cells of 

 various kinds of wasps and bees has attracted 

 the attention and called forth the speculations 

 of naturalists and geometers from the earliest 

 jieriods. By one class of writers the geometrical 

 properties of these cells have been used as proofs, 

 not so much of the skill and instinct of the 

 insects, as of tlie wisdom and intelligence of the 

 Creator ; while by the opposite class of writers, 

 these same geometrical properties of the cells 

 are alleged as a sufficient cause for the produc- 

 tion of the insects that make them, fiom the 

 advantages which these forms of cells are sup- 

 posed to possess over other forms— advantages 

 said to be so important as to decide the battle of 

 life in favor of the insects that adopt the geomet- 

 rical plan of making their cells. 



I have for a long time felt convinced that both 

 parties in this controversy are in error, as men 

 generally are when they attempt to speculate on 

 the reasons for the existence of things ; and that 

 the properties of the cells are only the necessai-y 

 consequence of their geometrical form, which 

 form itself is the necessary consequence of 

 mechanical conditions totally unconnected with 

 design, and incapable of rendering an account 

 of the origin of the insects that make the cells. 

 The geometrical cells of the wasps and bees 

 that I have had an opportunity of examining, 

 may be divided into thi'ee classes. 



1st. Hexagonal cells formed by adjoining 

 pyramidal figures, vv'ith slightly curved axes, 

 not terminating in a j)oint, but in a rounded 

 extremity. 



The British Tree wasp forms its pupa cells in 

 this manner, and in consequence of the pyramidal 

 form of the hexagonal cells, the comb opens out 

 on the lower side, so as to present a laiger surface 

 than on the upper side. 



2d. Hexagonal cells formed of adjoining pris- 

 matic figures, with rectilinear axis, terminated 

 by a truntaced plane, at right angles to the axis 

 of the prism. 



These cells are found in wasps' nests from St. 

 Lucia, in the West Indies, and at Graham's 

 Town in South Africa, which were i)laced at my 

 disposal for th s investigation by jMr. Robert J. 

 Montgomery. 



3d. Hexagonal cells formed tif adjoin 'ng pris- 

 matic figures, with rectilinear axes, terminated 

 by three faces of a rhombic dodecahedron ; 

 which three faces also form each one-third of 

 the termination of a siinilar set of adjoining 

 hexagonal prismatic cells, placed end to end 

 behind the lir^t set of prisms. — This double 

 comb is produced by the well-known form of the 

 cells of the honey bee. 



All these varieties of cells may be accounted 

 for, simply by the mechanical pressure of the 

 insects against each other, during the formation 



of the cell. In conse<iuence of the instinct that 

 compels them to work Avith reference to a plane, 

 and of the cylindrical form of the insects' bodies, 

 the cells must be hexagons ; and in consequence 

 of the instinct that induces tlie bees to form 

 double combs, the mutual pressure of their 

 heads against each other compels the bottom of 

 the cell to assume the form of a rhombic dodec- 

 ahedron. If we could imagine spherical insects 

 endowed with the instinct of working from a 

 point and not a plane, their cells would cease to 

 efiect the forms of the hexagondal dodecahedron, 

 and would imitate the totally different form of 

 the pentagonal dodecahedron— instances of which 

 maj^ be seen in the bubbles produced in the froth 

 of an organic solution, and in the shfipes of the 

 elementary cells of vegetables, ec^ually restricted 

 in their growth in every direction- and also in 

 the pentagonal faces assumed by leaden bullets 

 made to fill completely the inside of a hollow 

 shell, and then discharged against a bank of 

 earth or a wall, from a mortar. 



On this subject I cannot do better than quote 

 the words of Buffon, who was the first person 

 that put forward a rational theory of the shape 

 of the cells of bees. Tlie opinions of older 

 writers, especially of mathematicians, differ 

 Avidely from those of Buftbn, on this subject. 

 'I'he passage from Avhich I quote may be found 

 in his Histoire JSfaturelle, tom 4, page 99, &c. I 

 here translate some of the most important 

 passages bearing on this point. 



"The famous Pappus, of Alexandria, in the 

 Introduction to the Fifth Book of his Mathe- 

 matical Collections, says: — 'God has imparted 

 to men, indeed, the best and most perfect knowl- 

 edge of wisdom and discipline, and has assigned 

 to some animals devoid of reason, a certain 

 l^ortion. To men therefore as making use of 

 reason, He has permitted that they should do all 

 things by reason and demonstration ; but to 

 other animals without reason. He has given the 

 possession of what is useful and condusive to 

 life, by a certain natural providence.' 



"Any one may understand this to be so, as 

 well in many other kinds of animals, and more 

 especially in bees. For order, and a certain 

 deference to those who rule in their republic, 

 ambition moreover, and cleanliness, heap together 

 an abundance of honey. But their foresight 

 and economy concerning its conservation arc 

 much move admirable, for holding it for certain, 

 as is just, that they carry back some portion of 

 ambrosia from the gods to choice men, they 

 pour it not rashly upon the ground, or into wood 

 or into any other unformed and misshapen 

 matter, but collecting from the sweetest flowers 

 that grow on the earth, they form from them 

 most excellei t vases as a receptacle for honey 

 ( which the Greeks call Kqpia and the Latins 

 favi: all indeed equal, similar, and cohering 

 among themselves, of the hexagon species. 

 Now it is thus evident that they construct these 

 by a certain geometrical foretight, for they 

 consider it fit that all the figures should cohere 

 together and have common side , lest anything 

 falling into the intervening spaces, should spoil 

 and corrupt their work. Hence three rectilinear 

 and ordinate figures can effect what is purposed 

 — I mean ordinate figures which are equilateral 



