42 



THE AMBEICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



From this form it follows that the base of a cell 

 on one side or stratum of the comb is composed 

 of portions of the bases of three cells on the 

 other. You will inquire, Where is the advan- 

 tage of this arrangement? First, a greater de- 

 gree of strength; and secondly, preciselj'^ the 

 same as results from the hexagonal sides — a 

 greater capacity Avith less expenditure of wax. 

 Not only has this been indisputably ascertained, 

 but that the angles of the base of the cell are 

 exactly those which require the smallest quan- 

 tity of wax. It is obvious that these angles 

 might vary infinitely; but, by a very accurate 

 admeasurement, Maraldi found that the great 

 angles were in general 109'-'' 28^, the snialler 

 ones 70*^ 32^. Eeaumur, ingeniously suspect- 

 ing that the object of choosing these angles from 

 amongst so many was to spare wax, proposed 

 to M. Konig, a skilfull geometrician, who was 

 ignorant of Maraldi's experiments, to deter- 

 mine by calculations what ought fo be the an- 

 gle of a hexagonal cell, with a pyramidal bottom 

 formed of three similar and equal rhomboid 

 plates, so that the least matter possible might 

 enter into its construction. For the solution of 

 this problem the geometrician had recourse to 

 the infinitesimal calculus, and found that the 

 great angles of the rhombs should be 109'-' 2G^, 

 andof the small angles YO*^ 34'. What a sur- 

 prising agreement between the solution of the 

 problem and the actual admeasurement ! - 



Besides the saving of wax effected by the 

 form of the cells, the bees adopt another econo- 

 mical plan siiited to the same end. They com- 

 pose the bottoms and sides of wax of very great 

 tenuity, not thicker than a sheet of writing-pa- 

 per. But as Avails of this thinness at the en- 

 trance would be perpetually injured by the in- 

 gress and egress of the workers, they prudently 

 make the margin at the opening of each cell 

 three or four times thicker than the walls. Dr. 

 Barclay discovered that', though of such exces- 

 sive tenuity, the sides and bottom of each cell 

 are actually douhU^ or, in other Avords, that each 

 cell is a distinct, separate, and in some measure 

 an independent structure, agglutinated only to 

 the neighboring cells, and that Avhen the agglu- 

 tinating substance is destroyed, each cell "may 

 be entirely separated from the rest. 



You must not imagine that all the cells of a 

 hive are of precisely similar dimensions. As 



*Fathcr Boscovich observes, that all the angles that form 

 the planes which compose the cell are equal, i. e. 120''; and 

 he supposes that this equality of inclination facilitates much 

 the consti'uction of the cell, which may be a motive for pre- 

 ferring it, as well as economy. He shows that the bees do 

 not economize the wax necessary for a flat bottom in the 

 construction of every cell, near so much as MM. Konig and 

 Koaumur thought. 



MacLaurin says, that the difference of a cell with a pyra- 

 midal from one with a flat bottom, in which is comprised 

 the economy of the bees, is equal to the fourth part of six 

 triangles, which it would be necessary to add to the trape- 

 ziums, the faces of the cell, in order to make them right an- 

 gles. 



M. L'Hullier, professor of Geneva, values the economy of 

 the bees at one flfty-onc parts of the whole expense; and he 

 shows that it might have been one fif(h if the bees liad no 

 other circumstances to attend to: but he concludes, that if 

 it is not very sensible in every cell, it may be considerable 

 in the whole of a comb, on account of the mutual setting of 

 the two opposite orders of cells. Huber, Nouvellcs Obser- 

 valions, kc.i ii. ^1. 



the society consists of three orders of insects 

 differing in size, the cells AA'hich are to contain 

 the larva? of each proportionally differ, those 

 built for the males being considerably larger 

 than those which are intended for the workers. 

 The abode of the larva3 of the queen bee differs 

 still more. It is not only much larger than any 

 of the rest, but of a quite different form, being 

 shaped like a pear or Florence flask, and com- 

 posed of a material much coarser than common 

 wax, of Avhich above one hundred times as 

 much is used in its construction as of pure wax 

 in that of a common cell. The situation, too, 

 of these cells (for there are generally three or 

 four, and sometimes many more, even up to 

 tliirtj^ or forty in each hive) is very diff'erent 

 from that of the common cells. Instead of be- 

 ing \\\ a horizontal, they are placed inaA'crtieal 

 direction, with the mouth downwards, and are 

 usually fixed to the lower edge of the combs, 

 from Avhich they irregularly project like stalac- 

 tites from the roof of a cavern. The cells des- 

 tined for the reception of honey and pollen dif- 

 fer'from those which the larvre of the males and 

 Avorkers inhabit only by being deeper, and thus 

 more capacious; in fact, the A'ery same cells are 

 successively applied to both purposes. When 

 the honey is collected in great abundance, and 

 there is not time to construct fresh cells, the 

 bees lengthen the honey cells by adding a rim 

 to them. 



You will be anxious to learn the process 

 Avhich these ingenious artificers folloAV in con- 

 structing their habitations; and on this head I 

 am happy that the recent publication of a ncAV 

 edition of the celebrated Huber's New Observa- 

 tions on Bees, in which this subject is for the 

 first time elucidated, will enable me to gratify 

 j^our curiosity. 



But in the first place j^ou must be told of an 

 important and unlooked for discovery of this 

 uiarivalled detector of the hidden mysteries of 

 nature — that the AVorkers, or neuters, as they 

 are called, of a hive, consist of tAVO descriptions 

 of individuals, one of Avhich he calls aheilles 

 nottrrices, or petites aheilles, the other aheilles 

 cirieres. The former, or nurse bees, are smaller 

 than the latter; their stomach is not capable of 

 sucii distension; and their office is to build the 

 combs and cells after the foundation has been 

 laid by the cirieres, to collect honey, and to feed 

 the larva?. The aheilles cirieres are the makers 

 of Avax, Avhich substance Huber has noAV indis- 

 putably ascertained to be secreted, as John 

 Hunter long ago suspected, beneath the ventral 

 segments, from between which it is taken by 

 the bees Avhcn wanted, in the form of thin 

 scales. The apparatus in Avliich the Avax is se- 

 creted consists of four pair of membranous bags 

 or wax -pockets, situated at the base of each in- 

 termediate segment, one on each side, Avhich 

 can only be seen by pressing the abdomen so 

 as to lengthen it, being usually concealed by 

 the overlapping of the preceding segments. It 

 should be observed that this discovery Avas 

 nearly made by our countryman Thorlcy, who, 

 in his Female Monarchy (1744), says that he has 

 taken bees Avith six pieces of Avax Avithiu the 

 plaits of the abdomen, three on each side. In 



