104 THE BUILDING OP EEES. 



cells, rig. 47 exhibits an accurate and beautiful representa- 

 tion of comb, drawn for this work from nature, by M. M. 

 Tidd, and engraved by D. T. Smith, both of Boston, Mass. 

 The cells are of the size of nature. The large ones are drone- 

 cells, and the small ones, worker-cells. The irregular, five- 

 sided cells between them, show how bees pass from one size 

 to another. 



Mr. Cheshire, in his book, has criticized this engraving^ on 

 account of the acuteness of the cells of transition, or as he 

 terms them, of accommodation. He writes: "The head of a 

 bee could not reach the bottom of the acute angles as thej^are 

 represented." Our first impression, on reading the criticism, 

 was that Mr. Cheshire was right. Then the thought that Mr. 

 Langstroth had his engravings made from nature led us to 

 inspect some combs, when we found several cells of accom- 

 modation with angles at least as acute as in the cut. But we 

 noticed also that this acuity exists only on the rims of the cells 

 and not inside; the bees, inside the cells, having pushed out 

 the walls, to be enabled to reach the bottom of the angles 

 which were thus rounded inside. Mr. Langstroth wrote to 

 us, in regard to this criticism of IMr. Cheshire : "This piece 

 of comb was actually copied from nature by a man of extraor- 

 dinary accuracy." 



219. The combs are built with such economy, that the 

 entire construction of a hive of a capacity of nine gallons 

 does not yield more than two pounds of beeswax v/hen melted. 



According to Dr. Donhoff, the thickness of the sides of a 

 cell in a new comb is only the one hundred and eightieth part 

 of an inch ! Cheshire states that he found some that measured 

 only the four hundredth of an inch. 



220. Mrist Apiarists before Huber's time supposed that 

 wax was made from pollen, either in a crude or digested state. 

 Confining a new swarm of bees to a hive in a dark and cool 

 room, at the end of five days he found several beautiful white 

 combs in their tenement; these being taken from them, and 

 the bees supplied with honey and water, new combs were again 

 constructed. Seven times in succession their combs were re- 

 moved, and were in each instance replaced, the bees being all 



