Chap. VIII.] CELL-MAKING INSTINCT. 349 



thijse made by the justly celebrated elder Huber, but 

 I am convinced of their accuracy; and if I had 

 space, I would show that they are conformable with 

 my theory. 



Huber's statement that the very first cell is exca- 

 vated out of a little parallel-sided wall of wax, is not, as 

 far as I have seen, strictly correct; the first commence- 

 ment having always been a little hood of wax; but I will 

 not here enter on details. We see how important a part 

 excavation plays in the construction of the cells; but it 

 would be a great error to suppose that the bees cannot 

 build up a rough wall of wax in the proper position — 

 that is, along the plane of intersection between two ad- 

 joining spheres. I have several specimens showing 

 clearly that they can do this. Even in the rude circum- 

 ferential rim or wall of wax round a growing comb, flex- 

 ures may sometimes be observed, corresponding in posi- 

 tion to the planes of the rhombic basal plates of future 

 cells. But the rough wall of wax has in every case to be 

 finished off, by being largely gnawed away on both sides. 

 The manner in which the bees build is curious; they al- 

 ways make the first rough wall from ten to twenty times 

 thicker than the excessively thin finished wall of the cell, 

 which will ultimately be left. We shall understand how 

 they work, by supposing masons first to pile up a broad 

 ridge of cement, and then to begin cutting it away 

 equally on both sides near the ground, till a smooth, very 

 thin wall is left in the middle; the masons always piling 

 up the cut-away cement, and adding fresh cement on the 

 summit of the ridge. We shall thus have a thin wall 

 steadily growing upward but always crowned by a 

 gigantic coping. From all the cells, both those just 

 commenced and those completed, being thus crowned 



