THE HIVE BEE. 37 
by cutting out the nine lozenge-shaped pieces of card- 
board, and by requesting that they be so put together as 
to form the model of a Bee-cell. 
We have not yet exhausted the wonders of the Bee-comb. 
If we take a piece of comb from which all the cells have 
been removed, and hold it up to the light, we shall see 
that the cells are not placed opposite each other, but that 
the three lozenges which form the base of one cell form 
part of the base of three other cells, as is seen in fig. 2. 
Thus a still further economy of material is attained, while 
the strength is enormously increased, each of the edges 
formed by the junction of two lozenges making a buttress 
which performs precisely the same office as the buttresses 
of architecture. 
The same principle is observable throughout the cell, 
which even at its edges is supported by three cells, and 
gives partial support to three others. As the walls of the 
cells are extremely thin, the Bee always strengthens their 
mouths by a thick edging of harder wax than that with 
which the cell itself is made. The engineer who plans 
girders, boilers, and other objects of a similar character, acts 
in precisely the same manner, and strengthens the compara- 
tively thin and yielding plates by flanges or angle-irons. 
Many inquirers have asked themselves how the Bee con- 
structs the comb, and on what principle it proceeds. To 
this question there have been several answers, none of 
which appear to be satisfactory. One ingenious ento- 
mologist remarked, that when the Bee placed the claws 
of its fore-feet against each other, the limbs embraced 
a hexagonal space, of which the thorax formed one side. 
Another, a very popular solution of the question, is that 
which may be called the “sculpture” theory. 
The Bee that commences the task is supposed to work a 
lump of wax on the stick or bar which supports a comb, 
