48 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



Bee House was maintained by the Apiarian 

 Society during the years 1860-1862. 



Continuing his observations of bees and his 

 experiments with regard to the formation of the 

 comb, etc., Tegetmeier ascertained that bees 

 require no less than 12 to 15 lbs. of dry sugar 

 to enable them to secrete one pound of wax. 

 This increased the interest of his first discovery, 

 for obviously the adoption of the six-sided form 

 of cell saved an immense amount of work, the 

 minimum quantity of wax being thus made to 

 serve for the maximum number of cells. Among 

 other curious facts in bee-life he discovered was, 

 that when a swarm intended to take possession 

 of an old hive which contained the remains of 

 comb and litter, they began operations by sending 

 in a party of workers who cleared out the rubbish 

 and set to work to repair as far as possible the 

 remains of the comb thev found there before the 

 swarm occupied the hive. Tegetmeier was always 

 very cautious about reading intelligence into the 

 actions of animals; but in this case he admitted 

 that the bees displayed something so closely 

 allied to reasoning power and forethought that 

 it was hard to tell the difference. 



Another of his discoveries had important bear- 

 ing on the manner in which different strains or 

 species of bees may inter-breed, and this also 

 proved of great interest to Darwin. As most 

 people know, the inhabitants of a hive will not 



