THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY 103 



same time the base of three cells on the other. It is in these 

 prismatic tubes that the honey is stored ; and to prevent its 

 escaping during the period of maturation — which would in- 

 fallibly happen if the tubes were as strictly horizontal as they 

 appear to be — the bees incline them slightly, to an angle of 

 4° or 5°. 



" Besides the economy of wax," says Reaumur, when 

 considering this marvellous construction in its entirety, "besides 

 the economy of wax that results from the disposition of the 

 cells, and the fact that this arrangement allows the bees to fill 

 the comb without leaving a single spot vacant, there are other 

 advantages also with respect to the solidity of the work. The 

 angle at the base of each cell, the apex of the pyramidal cavity, 

 is buttressed by the ridge formed by the two faces of the 

 hexagon of another cell. The two triangles, or extensions of 

 the hexagon-faces which fill one of the convergent angles of 

 the cavity enclosed by the three rhombs, form, by their junc- 

 tion, a plane angle on the side they touch ; each of these 

 angles, concave within the cell, supports, on its convex side, 

 one of the sheets employed to form the hexagon of another 

 cell ; the sheet, pressing on this angle, resists the force which 

 is tending to push it outwards ; and in this fashion the angles 

 are strengthened. Every advantage that could be desired with 

 regard to the solidity of each cell is procured by its own forma- 

 tion and its position with reference to the others." 



