NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Mode of constructing the cells. 



purpose. Their teeth are the instruments by 

 which they model and fashion their various 

 buildings, and give them such symmetry and 

 perfection. They begin at the top of the hive; 

 and several of them work at a time, at the cells 

 which have two faces. If they are stinted with 

 regard to time, they give the new cells but halt" 

 the depth which they ought to have ; leaving 

 them imperfect, till they have sketched out the 

 number of cells necessary for the present occa- 

 sion. The construction of their combs, costs 

 them a great deal of labour: they are made by 

 insensible additions; and not cast at once in a 

 mold." It is difficult to perceive, even with the 

 assistance of glass hives, the manner in which 

 "bees operate when constructing their cells. They 

 are so eager to afford mutual assistance ; and for 

 this purpose so many of them crowd together, 

 and are "perpetually succeeding each other, that 

 their individual operations can seldom be dis- 

 tinctly observed. It has, however, been plainly 

 discovered that their two jaws are the only instru- 

 ments they employ in modelling and polishing 

 the wax. With a little patience and attention, 

 we perceive cells just begun : we likewise remark 

 the quickness with which a bee moves its teeth 

 against a small portion of the cell. This portion 

 the animal, by repeated strokes on each side, 

 smooths, renders compact, and reduces to a pro- 

 per thinness. While some of the hive are 

 lengthening their hexagonal tubes, others are 



