EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAJMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Vol. II. 



SEPTEIMIEIEU, ISGO. 



No. 3. 



The Hive Bees' Work. 



The most profouncl-M}:)liilosoplicr, equally with 

 the most incurious of mortals, is struck Avith as- 

 tonishment on inspecting the interior of a hce- 

 7iive. He beholds a city in miniature. He sees 

 this city divided into regular streets, these streets 

 composed of houses constructed on the most ex- 

 act geometrical principles and the most sym- 

 metrical plan, some sei'ving for store-houses for 

 food, others for the habitations of the citizens, 

 and a few, much more extensive than the rest, 

 destined for the palaces of the sovereign. He 

 perceives that the substance of which the whole 

 city is built is one which man, with all his skill, 

 is unable to fabricate; and that the edifices in 

 which it is employed are such as the most ex- 

 pert artist would find himself incompetent to 

 erect. And the whole is the work of a society 

 of insects! Nor have all its mysteries yet been 

 fathomed. Philosophers have in all. ages de- 

 voted their lives to the subject; from Aristoma- 

 chus of Soli in Cilicia, who, we are told by 

 Pliny, for fifty-eight years attended solely to 

 bees, and Philiscus the Thracian, who spent his 

 whole time in forests investigating their man- 

 ners, to Swammerdam, Reaumur, Hunter, and 

 Huber, of modern times. Still the construction 

 of the combs of a bee-hive is a miracle which 

 overwhelms our faculties. 



You are probably aAvare that the hives with 

 which we provide bees are not essential to tlieir 

 labors, and that they can equally, form their 

 city in the hollow of a tree or any other cavity. 

 lu whatever situation it is placed,, the general 

 plan which they foUoAV is the same. You have 

 seen a honey-comb, and must have observed 

 that it is a fiattish cake, composed of a vast 

 number of cells, for the most part hexagonal, 

 regularly applied to each other's sides, and ar- 

 ranged in two strata or layers placed end to end. 

 The interior of a bee-hive consists of several of 

 these combs fixed to its upper part and sides, 

 arranged vertically at a small distance from each 

 other, so that the cells composing them are 

 placed in a liorizontal position, and have their 

 openings in opposite directions — not the best 

 position one would have thought for retaining 



a fluid like honey, yet the bees find no incon- 

 venience on this score. The distance of the 

 combs from each other is about half an inch, 

 that is, sufficient to alloAV two bees busied upon 

 the opposite cells to pass each other Avith facil- 

 ity. Besides these vacancies, which form the 

 high roads of their community, the combs are 

 here and there pierced Avith holes which servo 

 as posterns for easy communication from one 

 to the other without losing time by going round. 

 The arrangement of the combs is well adapt- 

 ed for its purpose, but it is the construction of 

 the cells which is most admirable and astonish- 

 ing. As these arc formed of wax, a substance 

 secreted by the bees in no great abundance, it 

 is important that as little as possible of such a 

 precious material should be consumed. Bees, 

 therefore, in the formation of their cells have 

 to solve a problem which would puzzle some 

 geometers, namely, a quantity of Avax being 

 giA'Cu, to form of it similar and ec|ual cells of a 

 determinate capacity, but of the largest size in 

 proportion to the quantity of matter employed, 

 and disposed in such a manner as to occupy in 

 the hive the least possible space. Every part 

 of this problem is practically solved by bees. 

 If their cells had been cylindrical, which form 

 seems best adapted to the shape of a bee, they 

 could not have been applied to each other Avith- 

 out leaving numberless superfluous vacuities. 

 If the cells were made square or triangular, 

 this last objection, indeed, Avould be remoA^ed; 

 but besides that a greater quantity of wax Avould 

 liaA'e been required, the shape Avould have been 

 inconvenient to a cylindrical-bodied animal. 

 All these difficulties are obviated by the adop- 

 tion of hexagonal cells, which are admirably 

 fitted to the form of the insect, at the same time 

 that their sides apply to each other withoiit the 

 smallest A^acant intervals. Another important 

 saving in materials is gained by making a com- 

 mon base serA-e for two strata of cells. Much 

 more Avax as Avell as room would have been re- 

 ciuired, had the combs consisted of a single stra- 

 tum only. But this is not all. The base of each 

 cell is not an exact plane, but is usually com- 

 posed of three rhomboidal or lozenge-shaped 

 pieces, so as to form a pyramidal concavity 



