ARCHITECTURE OF BEES. 



quantity of materials employed. Both the sides 

 and bases are so exquisitely thin, that three or 

 four placed on each other are not thicker than a 

 leaf of common writing-paper ; each cell, sepa- 

 rately weak, is strengthened by its coincidence 

 with other cells, and the entrance is fortified with 

 an additional ledge or border of wax, to prevent 

 its bursting from the struggles of the bee-nymph, 

 or from the ingress and egress of the labourers. 

 This entrance border is at least three times as 

 thick as the sides of the cell 9 and thicker at the 

 angles than elsewhere, which prevents the mouth 

 of the cell from being regularly hexagonal, though 

 the interior is perfectly so. 



" On books deep poring, ye pale sons of toil, 

 Who waste in studious trance the midnight oil, 

 Say, can ye emulate with all your rules, 

 Drawn or from Grecian or from Gothic schools, 

 This artless frame ? Instinct her simple guide, 

 A heaven-taught Insect baffles all your pride. 

 Not all yon marshal'd orbs, that ride so high, 

 Proclaim more loud a present Deity, 

 Than the nice symmetry of these small cells, 

 Where on each angle genuine science dwells, 

 And joys to mark, through wide creation's reign, 

 How close the lessening links of her continued chain." 



EVANS. 



I have just adverted to the ingenuity of the 

 bees in thickening, and thereby strengthening the 

 mouths of the cells. Additional strength is also 



