The Life of the Bee 
placed on a pyramidal base; and two 
layers of these tubes form the comb, their 
bases being opposed to each other in such 
fashion that each of the three rhombs or 
lozenges which on one side constitute the 
pyramidal base of one cell, composes at 
the same time the pyramidal base of three 
cells on the other. It is in these pris- 
matic tubes that the honey is stored; and 
to prevent its escaping during the period 
of maturation,— which would infallibly 
happen if the tubes were as strictly hori- 
zontal as they appear to be, — the bees 
incline them slightly, to an angle of 
A OFS, 
“ Besides the economy of wax,” says 
Réaumur, when considering this marvellous 
construction in its entirety, “ besides the 
economy of wax that results from the dis- 
position of the cells, and the fact that this 
arrangement allows the bees to fill the 
comb without leaving a single spot vacant, 
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