The Life of the Bee 
large cells, destined for the rearing of males 
and storing of provisions when flowers super- 
abound; and the small cells, serving as 
workers’ cradles and ordinary store-rooms, 
which occupy normally about four-fifths of 
the built-over surface of the hive. And 
lastly, so as to connect in orderly fashion 
the larger cells with the small, they will 
erect a certain number of what are known 
as transition cells. These must of necessity 
be irregular in form; but so unerringly 
accurate are the dimensions of the second 
and third types that at the time when the 
decimal system was established, and a fixed 
measure sought in nature to serve as a 
starting-point and an incontestable standard, 
it was proposed by Réaumur to select for 
this purpose the cell of the bee.’ 
Each of the cells is an hexagonal tube 
1 It was as well, perhaps, that this standard was not 
adopted, For although the diameter of the cells is 
admirably regular, it is, like all things produced by a 
living organism, not mathematically invariable. Further, 
as M. Maurice Girard has pointed out, the apothem of 
the cell is generally different among each species of 
bee, so that the standard would vary from hive to hive, 
according to the race that inhabited it. 
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