124 ^Messrs. C. Dawson and 8. A. WoocUiead on the 



tloal Avilli a cast slieet of pure beeswax, which, when viewed 

 by a side liii:ht, distinctly showed traces of these hexagons 

 over its surface. 



Before introducing^ it to the boes wc liad traced upon it 

 with vermilion a grouj) of the hexn<2;ons which appeared near 

 the centre of the plate*. This was then photographed, after 

 which the wax plate was placed in an observatory-hive on a 

 bar-frame. The bees soon started upon it, proceeding to 

 excavate round hollows in the centres of the hexagons near the 

 edges of the plate, pushing out on all sides the wax debris 

 around the edge of each excavation. When they reached 

 the planes of contact of the hexagons, either on feeling the 

 minutely raised edges on the surface, or more probably on 

 feeling the increased density of the wax f, the bees determined 

 the limits of their excavation ; and it was then discovered by 

 us that the bases of these hexagons were three-sided in the 

 usual form of a bee-cell. Meanwhile a similar process was 

 going on in the cells which lay as nearly as possible in the 

 same irregular wavy line ; but the work on one side of the 

 sheet was sometimes considerably more advanced than on the 

 other, the excavation being brought three or four more rows 

 of cells nearer the centre on one side than on the other. 



Portions of the debris taken from the centre of the crystal 

 were now kneaded up by the bees into a kind of froth and 

 placed above the lines of pressure or margins of the hexagons, 

 the residue of the ddbris being put aside for future use. 



The portions placed on the margin of the hexagon speedily 

 adhered and solidified ; another layer was then added by the 

 bees, and this process was repeated, thus forming a series of 

 strata (which may be noticed under a magnifying-glass on 

 the sides of the complete cells), the bees planing and polishing 

 the inner surfaces of the cell upwards from the base, taking 

 as guides the planes and angles of the hexagons J. 



In the places where we had traced the outlines of the 

 hexagons in vermilion the bases of the cells were to be 

 distinctly seen formed upon the vermilion outlines. Similar 

 experiments have been repeatedly tried, with the same 

 results. 



• "We black-leaded another group, with similar results. 



f There are two reasons for the density of the wax, namely, the outer 

 edo^es of the nebula; are composed of smaller particles, and are therefore 

 more compact, also the pressure brought to bear on the planes of contact 

 renders the sides of the bodies still more compact. 



X A plate of wax produced by compression and in which no crystals 

 had formed was inserted in tlie hive ; this the bees gnawed to pieces 

 and (?) utilized elsewhere. 



