THE HIVE-BEE. 453 



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The same principle is observable throughout the cell, which 

 even at its edges is supported by three cells, and gives partial 

 support to three others. As the walls of the cells are extremely 

 thin, the Bee always strengthens their mouths by a thick edging 

 of harder wax than that with which the cell itself is made. The 

 engineer who plans girders, boilers, and other objects of a simi- 

 lar character, acts in precisely the same manner, and strengthens 

 the comparatively thin and yielding plates by flanges or angle- 

 irons. 



Many inquirers have asked themselves how the Bee constructs 

 the comb, and on what principle it proceeds. To this question 

 there have been several answers, none of which appear to be sat- 

 isfactory. One ingenious entomologist remarked that, when the 

 Bee placed the claws of its fore feet against eacli other, the limbs 

 embraced a hexagonal space, of which the thorax formed one side. 

 Another, a very popular solution of the question, is that which 

 may be called the "sculpture" theory. 



The Bee that commences the task is supposed to work a lump 

 of wax on the stick or bar which supports a comb, and then to 

 excavate a circular hole on one side, the interior of the hole be- 

 ing shaped like a concave lens. Eound this hole or basin the ' 

 Bee then excavates six other holes of equal diameter, so that 

 their edges nearly touch each other. It then cuts away the wax 

 from each basin until the material is reduced to the requisite 

 thinness, and thus obtains the hexagonal cell. In the mean time, 

 another Bee is working in the same manner on the opposite side 

 of the wax, taking care, however, to make the centre of its first 

 basin correspond with the union of three basins on the opposite 

 side. A similar system of sculpturing is carried on, so that at 

 last a series of hexagonal basins is formed, from which rise the 

 walls of the future cells. 



There is an amount of plausibility about this theory which is 

 very attractive. It must, however, be remembered that the Bee 

 is still supposed to execute problems which are as difficult as that 

 which they are presumed to explain. 



In the first place, the Bee must strike perfect circles from cen- 

 tres the distance of which from each other must be accurately ad- 

 justed. Again, these centres must be so placed that the centre 

 of the circle sculptured on one side of the comb must be equidis- 

 tant from the centres of the three adjacent circles on the other 

 side — a problem of no easy accomplishment, even with the aid 



