HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 277 



another takes its place, deepening the cavity, heightening its lateral mar- 

 gins by heaping up the wax to right and left by means of its teeth and fore- 

 feet, and giving them a more upright form. More than twenty bees suc- 

 cessively employ themselves in this work. When arrived at a certain 

 point, other bees begin on the yet untouched and opposite side of the 

 mass, and, commencing the bottom of two cells, are in turn relieved by 

 others. While still engaged in this labour, the wax- makers return and 

 add to the mass, augmenting its extent every way, the nurse-bees again 

 continuing their operations. After having worked the bottoms of the cells 

 of the first row into their proper forms, they polish them and give them 

 their finish, while others begin the outline of a new series. 



The cells themselves, or prisms, which result from the reunion and 

 meeting of the sides, are next constructed. These are engrafted on the 

 borders of the cavities hollowed in the mass. The bees begin them by 

 making the contour of the bottoms, which at first is unequal, of equal 

 height ; thus all the margins of the cells offer an uniformly level surface 

 from their first origin, and until they have acquired their proper length. 

 The sides are heightened in an order analogous to that which the insects, 

 follow in finishing the bottoms of the cells ; and the length of these tubes 

 is so perfectly proportioned that there is no observable inequality between 

 them. It is to be remarked, that though the general form of the cells is 

 hexagonal, that of those first begun is pentagonal, the side next the top of 

 the hive, and by which the comb is attached, being much broader than the 

 rest ; whence the comb is more strongly united to the hive than if these 

 cells were of the ordinary shape. It of course follows that the base of 

 these cells, instead of being formed, like those of the hexagonal cells, of 

 three rhomboids, consist of one rhomboid and two trapeziums. 



The form of a new comb is lenticular, its thickness always diminishing 

 towards the edges. This gradation is constantly observable whilst it keeps 

 enlarging in circumference ; but as soon as the bees get sufficient space to 

 lengthen it, it begins to lose this form, and to assume parallel surfaces : it 

 has then received the shape which it will always preserve. 



The bees appear to give the proper forms to the bottoms of the cells by 

 means of their antennae, which extraordinary organs they seem to employ 

 as directors by which their other instruments are instructed to execute a 

 very complex work. They do not remove a single particle of wax until the 

 antenna? have explored the surface that is to be sculptured. By the use of 

 these organs, which are so flexible and so readily applied to all parts, how- 

 ever delicate, that they can perform the functions of compasses in measur- 

 ing very minute objects, they can work in the dark, and raise those wonder- 

 ful combs the first production of insects. 



Every part of the work appears a natural consequence of that which 

 precedes it, so that chance has no share in the admirable results witnessed. 

 The bees cannot depart from their prescribed route, except in consequence 

 of particular circumstances which alter the basis of their labour. The ori- 

 ginal mass of wax is never augmented but by an uniform quantity ; and, 

 what is most astonishing, this augmentation is made by the wax-makers 

 who are the depositaries of the primary matter, and possess not the art of 

 sculpturing the cells. 



The bees never begin two masses for combs at the same time ; but 

 scarcely are some rows of cells constructed in the first, when two other 

 masses, one on each side of it, are established at equal distances from it 



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