84 HUMBLE CREATUKES, 



from bias or prejudice, aided by the consideration 

 of otber natural objects and phenomena, may perhaps 

 lead us to some useful conclusion on the subject. 



First, then, aU the naturalists whose opinions we 

 have quoted agree that the design of the cells is not 

 originally hexagonal, but that (with the exception of 

 certain cells at the side of the comb and around the 

 queen-ceU) they eventually become so. Next, they 

 agree with mathematicians, that, after the circle, this 

 form of cell encloses the largest space with the small- 

 est amount of material ; and every one is acquainted 

 with the extreme tenuity of the cell-walls of the 

 honey-comb. Now the real question is — are these 

 cells normally cylindrical, and do they of necessity 

 resolve themselves into hexagons when the neigh- 

 bouring ones are built up against them? or, do the 

 Bees begin by making them irregularly pentagonal, 

 and cause them gradually to assume the hexagonal 

 shape as they progress? 



In describing the eye of the Bee, we showed that 

 where a number of circles or spheres are developed 

 in close contact, they resolve themselves into perfect 

 hexagons. Turning to other natural objects, we ob- 

 serve in the tissue of plants, that when the circular 

 cells become differentiated, and take the form of tubes, 

 growing together with the neighbouring vessels of 

 similar shape, they also assume the hexagonal type, 

 and their structure then greatly resembles the honey- 

 comb. This we find exempHfied not only in the 

 higher plants and animals, but also most beautifully 



