HYMENOPTERA. 271 
hexagonal alveoli with a pyramidal base formed of three rhombs 
These alveoli have received the name of cel/s, and each lamina 
that of comb. They are always perpendicular, parallel, fixed at 
top, or by one of the edges, and separated by spaces which allow 
the Bees to pass between them. The cells are thus placed hori- 
zontally. Distinguished geometricians have demonstrated that 
their form is the most economical with respect to the expendi- 
ture of wax, and the most advantageous as to the extent of the 
Space contained in each cell. Bees, however, know how to 
modify this form according to circumstances. ‘They cut away 
and fit their faces piece by piece. These cells, with the excep 
tion of that proper to the larva and nymph of the female, are 
almost equal; some contain the brood, and the remainder, the 
honey and pollen of flowers. Some of the cells containing honey 
are open, and the remainder, or those held in reserve, are sealed 
up with a flat or slightly convex lid. The royal cells, which 
vary in number from two to forty, are much larger, almost 
cylindrical, somewhat narrower at the end, and have little cavi- 
ties on their external surface. They usually hang from the 
margin of the combs, in the manner of stalactites, so that the 
larve contained in them are in a reversed position. Some of 
them weigh as much as one hundred and fifty of the ordinary 
cells. The cells of the males are of an intermediate size be- 
tween those of the preceding and those of the iabourers, and 
placed here and there. Bees always continue their combs from 
above downwards. They stop the little chinks and apertures of 
their domicil with a species of mastich, which they collect from 
different trees, called propedis. 
Copulation takes place in the beginning of summer out of the 
hive, and, according to M. Huber, the female returns to it with 
the genital organs of the male attached to the extremity of her 
abdomen. It is thought that this single fecundation vivifies all 
the eggs she may lay in the course of two years, and perhaps 
during the whole of her life. She produces the different batches 
in rapid succession, and does not cease laying till autumn. 
Reaumur estimates the number laid by a female in the spring, 
during the space of twenty days, at twelve thousand. Guided 
unerringly by her instinct, she makes no mistake in selecting their 
appropriate cells. Sometimes, however, as where the total num- 
ber is not sufficient, she places several eggs in one. The la- 
beurers subsequently make a selection. All those which she lays 
in the ensuing spring produce labourers and are hatched in four 
or five days. 
Bees take care to furnish their larve with patée in quantities 
proportioned to their age, and on which they cling with their 
bodies curved into an arc. Six or seven days after they are 
hatched, they prepare to undergo their metamorphosis. Shut 
up in their cells by the labourers, who close the orifice with a 
convex lid, they line the parietes of their domicil with a tissue 
of silk, spin a cocoon, become nymphs, and, at the expiration of 
about twelve days, issue forth in their perfect state. The las 
