Honey -Comb. m 



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 fmd 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 perfedly straight, 

 and the cells are not always perfedly 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. 



