COMB. 101 



as it were, to use wax with the best economy, or to best ac- 

 commodate the body of the infantile bee. Should we, on the 

 contrary, make the lozenge a little longer, we should have the 

 bottom of the cell too nearly flat to use wax with most econ- 

 omy, or for the comfort of the young bee." — ("A B C of Bee 

 Culture.") 



212. "There are only three possible figures of the cells," 

 says Dr. Eeid, "which can make them all equal and similar, 

 without any useless spaces between them. These are the equi- 

 lateral triangle, the square, and the regular hexagon. It is well 

 known to mathematicians, that there is not a fourth way pos- 

 sible in which a plane may be cut into little spaces that shall 

 be equal, similar, and regular, without leaving any interstices. ' ' 



An equilateral triangle would have been impossible for an 

 insect with a round body to build. A circle seems to be the 

 best shape for the development of the larvae ; but such a figure 

 would have caused a needless sacrifice of space, materials, and 

 strength. The body of the immature insect, as it undergoes 

 its changes, is charged with a superabundance of moisture, 

 which passes ofE through the reticulated cover of its cell; may 

 not a hexagon, therefore, while approaching so nearly to the 

 shape of a circle, as not to incommode the young bee, fur- 

 nish, in its six comers, the necessary vacancies for a more 

 thorough ventilation? 



Is it credible that these little insects can unite so many re- 

 quisites in the construction of their cells? 



213. The fact is that the hexagonal shape of the cells is 

 naturally produced, and without any calculation, by the bee. 

 She wants to build each cell round; but as every cell touches 

 the next ones, and as she does not wish to leave any space 

 between, each one of the cells flattens at the contact, as would 

 soap bubbles if all of the same diameter. It is the same for 

 the lozenges of the bottom. The bee, wanting the bottom of 

 the cell concave inside, makes it, naturally, convex outside. 

 As this convexity projects on the opposite side of the median 

 line, the bee who builds the opposite cells begins, naturally, on 

 the tip of the convexity, the walls of cells just begun, since 



