452 



HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



lozenges which project from the sides forming the base, and the 

 others the sides. This cell will, of course, have very short sides ; 

 but by the simple expedient of widening the lozenges which form 

 the sides without altering the angles, the imitation cell can be 

 made of any desired length. 



TIG.4 



The best way of showing this beautiful structure is to make 

 two models, one to lie fiat or be folded and opened at discretion, 

 and the other formed into a cell, and the angles written upon the 

 cardboard. A little gummed paper will hold the sides together, 

 so that the model can be handled without breaking. A very 

 amusing puzzle may be formed by cutting out the nine lozenge- 

 shaped pieces of cardboard, and by requesting that they be so put 

 together as to form the model of a bee-cell. 



"We have not yet exhausted the wonders of the bee-comb. 



If we take a piece of comb from which all the cells have been 

 removed and hold it up to the light, we shall see that the cells 

 are not placed opposite each other, but that the three lozenges 

 which form the base of one cell form part of the base of three 

 other cells, as is seen in Fig. 2. Thus a still farther economy of 

 material is attained, while the strength is enormously increased, 

 each of the edges formed by the junction of two lozenges making 

 a buttress which performs precisely the same office as the but- 

 tresses of architecture. 



