72 POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY. 



present food to the inhabitants, and the remainder laid up 

 for winter consumption. The form of the cells is an interest- 

 ing proof of instinct : as there is no great space in a hive 

 which is to accommodate so many thousand insects, and as, 

 also, the Bees do not secrete a great quantity of wax, the 

 saving of both space and material is an object of considera- 

 tion ; consequently, every Bee is endowed with instinct which 

 places her high on the list of geometricians, as the cells are 

 precisely of that form which ensures both saving of space 

 and material. To prove this, Reaumur, the great naturalist, 

 gave the following problem to Konig, a skilful mathema- 

 tician : Among the hexagonal tubes with pyramidal bases, 

 to find that which can be formed with the least possible 

 quantity of matter. Konig worked the problem, and found 

 precisely the same angles which Reaumur had previously 

 ascertained to be those of the Bee's cell. It is a curious 

 circumstance that the design of every comb is sketched by 

 a single Bee, who lays the first rudiments, which are then 

 completed by the rest. There are three different kinds of 

 cells : the first are for the larvae of the workers, and for 

 containing the honey ; the second, for the grubs of the 

 drones, which are larger than the former ; and the third, of 

 which there is only a small number, are destined for the 



