224 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



to 13 D, that the side of a square does to the 

 diagonal of the same squai'e. 



houey comb cell. A picture of the geomet- 

 rical solid we have mentioned, is giveu 

 below. 



THE MAT1IE3IATICS OF THE HONEY C03IIJ. 



.Supi)ose we have a cubical block, E B C G 

 F. and that we pile small blocks on its sides 

 as shown, so as to raise pyramids of such an 

 inclination that a line from any apex to the 

 next, as from A to D, will just touch the 

 edge of the cube, B C. Now A C D B is the 

 geometric lozenge we are seeking. Its width, 

 B (', is e<jnal to one side of the square, E B 

 F H, for it is one side of the cube. Now to 

 prove that A D is equal to the diagonal, 

 E F. Ave will use the diagram below. 



D 



K 



Let E B F H represent the cube, and the 

 dotted lines, the pyramids. If the pyramids 

 are so made that the line A D is a straight, 

 continuous one, it is evident, by a little re- 

 llection, that the angles, A and D, will be 

 right angles. If this is so, A I) is exactly 

 ecjual to E F, the point we were to prove. 

 Now. referring to the former figure, if we 

 should go on building these pyramids on all 

 sides of the cube, we will have the beautiful 

 geometrical figure called the rhombic do- 

 decahedron ; it is so called, because it is a 

 solid figure having 12 equal sides, and each 

 side is a i-homb, or lozenge, such as we have 

 described. Where the oh fuse angles of 

 three of these rhombs meet, as at C, we shall 

 have the exact figure of the bottom of a 



RHOMBIC DODECAHEDRON. 



How does it come that the bees have 

 solved so exactly this intricate problem, anil 

 know just in what form and shape their 

 precious wax can be used, so as to hold the 

 most honey, with the very least expenditiue 

 of labor and material? Some are content 

 with saying that they do it by instinct, and 

 let it drop there ; but I believe God has giv- 

 en us something farther to do, than to in- 

 vent names for things, and then let them 

 drop. By carefully studying the different 

 hives in a large apiary, we see that not all 

 of them build comb precisely alike, and not 

 all colonies are equally skilled in working 

 wax down to this wonderful thinness. Some 

 bees will waste their precious moments— 

 and wax — in making great, awkward lumps 

 of wax ; coarse, irregular cells ; crooked, un- 

 i even comb ; etc., with very bad economy 

 either for the production of brood, or for the 

 storing of honey ; while others will have 

 all their work so even and true, and so little 

 wax will be wasted, that it is wonderful to 

 contemplate the regularity and system, with 

 which the little fellows have labored. Now, 

 it does not require any great amount of wis- 

 dom, to predict that the latter would, 'in a 

 state of nature, stand a far better chance of 

 wintering than the ones that were wasteful 

 and irregular in their ways of doing things. 

 If this be the case, those queens whose pro- 

 geny were best laborers, most skillful wax 

 workers, as well as most energetic honey 

 gatherers, would be most sure to peri^etuate 

 themselves, while the others would, sooner 

 or later, become extinct. I have found more 

 of a tendency in bees to sport, or to show 

 queer peculiarities, than in any other de- 

 partment of the animal or vegetable king- 

 dom. They vary in color, in shape, in size, 

 in disposition, in energy ; and almost every 

 colony, if studied closely, will be found to 

 have some little fashion or way of doing 

 things, different from all the rest in the 

 apiary. Now, when we take into accomit 

 the fact that many generations can be rear- 

 ed in a single summer, we see how rapidly. 



