The Life of the Bee 
at this point they must begin, and at that 
point stop? Once again we must con- 
tent ourselves with the reply, that is no 
reply: “It is a mystery of the hive.” 
Huber has sought to explain this mys- 
tery by suggesting that the pressure of 
the bees’ hooks and teeth may possibly 
produce slight projections, at regular in- 
tervals, on the opposite side of the comb ; 
or that they may be able to estimate the 
thickness of the block by the flexibility, 
elasticity, or some other physical quality of 
the wax; or again, that their antenna, 
which seem so well adapted for the ques- 
tioning of the finer, less evident side of 
things, may serve as a compass in the in- 
visible; or, lastly, that the position of 
every cell may derive mathematically from 
the arrangement and dimensions of the 
cells on the first row, and thus dispense 
with the need for further measurement. 
But these explanations are evidently in- 
211 
