Honey-Comb Described. 153 
qyeen cells are much thicker, and contain as before stated 
much that is not wax. In the arch-like pits in queen 
cells, we farther see how strength is conserved and mate- 
rial economized. 
Honey-comb has been an object of admiration since the 
earliest time. Some claim that the form is a matter of neces- 
sity—the result of pressure or reciprocal resistance and not 
of bee-skill. The fact that the hexagonal form is some- 
times assumed just as the cell is started, when pressure or 
resistance could not aid, has led me to doubt this view; 
especially as wasps form their paper nests of soft pulp, and 
the hexagonal cells extend to the very edge, where no 
pressure or resistance could affect the form of the cells. 
‘Yet Iam not certain that the mutual resistance of the cells 
as they are fashioned from the soft wax may not aid in 
determining the form. The bees certainly carve out the 
triangular pyramid at the base. They would need to be 
no better geometricians to form the hexagonal cells. The 
assertion that the cells of honey-comb are absolutely uni- 
form and perfect is untrue, as a little inspection will con- 
vince any one. The late Prof. J. Wyman demonstrated 
that an exact hexagonal cell does not exist. He also 
showed that the size varies, so that in a distance of ten 
worker-cells there may be a variation of one cell in diam- 
eter, and this in natural, not distorted, cells. Any one who 
doubts can easily prove, by a little careful examination, 
that Prof. Wyman was correct. This variation of one- 
fifth of an inch in ten cells is extreme, but a variation of 
one-tenth of an inch is common. The sides, as also the 
angles, are not constant. The rhombic faces forming the 
bases of the cells also vary. The idea which has come 
down from the past that mathematics and measurement 
exactly agreed upon the angles of the rhombs, that the 
two opposite obtuse angles were each 109° 28’ 16” and the 
acute 70° 31’ and 44” is without foundation in fact. — 
The bees change from worker (Fig. 53, c) to drone- 
cells (Fig. 53, @), which are one-fifth larger, and vice versa 
not by any system. (Fig. 53, 4), but simply by enlarging 
or contracting. It usually takes about four rows to com- 
plete the transformation, though the number of deformed 
