The Life of the Bee 



with outlined cells. These were less reg^ 

 ular, certainly, than those of an ordinary 

 comb ; wherefore the queen, having in- 

 spected them, wisely declined to lay any 

 eggs there, for the generation that would 

 have arisen therefrom would necessarily 

 have been deformed. Each cell, how- 

 ever, was a perfect hexagon ; nor did it 

 contain a single crooked line, a single 

 curved figure or angle. And yet the 

 ordinary conditions had all been changed ; 

 the cells had neither been scooped out of 

 a block, according to Ruber's descrip- 

 tion, nor had they been designed within a 

 waxen hood, and, from being circular at 

 first, been subsequently converted into 

 hexagons by the pressure of adjoining 

 cells, as explained by Darwin. Neither 

 could there be question here of reciprocal 

 obstacles, the cells having been formed 

 one by one, and their first lines traced on 

 what practically was a bare table. It would 

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