THE COMB-BUILt)ERS 215 



and ingenuity of comb-building lies in the fact 

 that there is no such thing as a separate cell. Each 

 single compartment in the comb shares its parts 

 with no less than nine other compartments. And 

 to talk of mutual interference when there is no 

 separate existence is ploughing the sands indeed. 



There are other circumstances connected with 

 the work of the comb-builders which go far to 

 confirm the position that bees do exercise reason, 

 and that of a high order. It has been said that 

 the interior of a hive in day-time is not altogether 

 deprived of light. Probably, during the hours of 

 greatest activity, the bees have always enough 

 light to see their way about by means of their 

 wonderful indoor-eyes, which, under the micro- 

 scope, have all the solemn wisdom of an owl's. 

 It is a fact, however, that comb-building is usually 

 carried on at night-time, when other employments 

 are in temporary abeyance. Possibly the — to our 

 eyes — profoundest darkness may be no darkness 

 at all to the bees ; but, to all appearances, as we 

 can judge of them, honey-comb is virtually made 

 in the dark. 



But combs are built side by side, often simul- 

 taneously. They grow downwards together, yet 

 always preserve their right distance apart ; so 

 that, when finished, there will be an intervening 

 gangway between the sealed surfaces of about a 

 quarter of an inch, which is just enough to allow 

 the two streams of bees to pass each other, back 



