148 Insect Architecture. 



the queen is about to deposit, and in this manner they re- 

 establish the regular distance.* 



We are indebted to the late Dr. Barclay of Edinburgh, 

 well known as an excellent anatomist, for the discovery that 

 each cell in a honeycomb is not simply composed of one wall, 

 but consists of two. We shall give the account of his 

 discovery in his own words : 



" Having inquired of several naturalists whether or not 

 they knew any author who had mentioned that the partitions 

 between the cells of the honeycomb were double, and whether 

 or not they had ever remarked such a structure themselves, 

 and they having answered in the negative, I now take the 

 liberty of presenting to the Society pieces of honeycomb, in 

 which the young bees had been reared, upon breaking which, 

 it will be clearly seen that the partitions between different 

 cells, at the sides and the base, are all double; or, in other 

 words, that each cell is a distinct, separate, and in some 

 measure an independent structure, agglutinated only to the 

 neighbouring cells ; and that when the agglutinating sub- 

 stance is destroyed, each cell may be entirely separated from 

 the rest. 



" I have also some specimens of the cells formed by wasps, 

 which show that the partitions between them arc also double, 

 and that the agglutinating substance between them is more 

 easily destroyed than that between the cells of the bee."| 



IRREGULARITIES IN THEIR WORKMANSHIP. 



Though bees, however, work with great uniformity when 

 circumstances favour their operations, they may be com- 

 pelled to vary their proceedings. M. Huber made several 

 ingenious experiments of this kind. The following, men- 

 tioned by Dr. Bevan, was accidental, and occurred to his 

 friend Mr. Walond. " Inspecting his bee-boxes at the end 

 of October, 1817, he perceived that a centre comb, burthened 

 with honey, had separated from its attachments, and was 



* Huber on Bees, p. 220. 



t Memoirs of the Wernerian Nat. Hist. Soc., vol. ii. p. 260. 



