Honep-Comb. 111 
the cells in rows, one row below the other, 
until they have a wall or sheet of cells 
reaching nearly to the bottom of the hive. 
This sheet of cells we call a comb. 
If you expect to find all the cells in a 
comb of exactly the same size and shape, 
you will be disappointed. 
Miss Apis fills the space at her disposal 
with wonderfully regular six-sided cells, far 
better ones than you or I could make; but 
the rows are not always perfectly straight, 
and the cells are not always perfectly uni- 
form in size, as they would be if made 
by machinery. 
Miss Apis is not a machine, and for my 
part I like her work better than if it were 
perfectly regular. 
As the comb hangs in the hive, the cells 
of course do not stand up with their open 
mouths at the top as we set a cup on the 
table, but they lie on their sides, which 
seems rather odd when we come to think 
of it. 
