WAX, AND BEE ARCHITECTURE. 169 



always, but life so mingles and co-ordinates these 

 that the mathematics is masked, while her purposes 

 are secured. 



Notwithstanding the absence of mathematical uni- 

 formity in comb, it is manifestly a disposition of 

 parts of all others best calculated to afford a 

 maximum of strength with a minimum of labour, and 

 the greatest space for each cell, the quantity of 

 material being considered. On a plane surface, 

 where a number of small and similar spaces are 

 to be divided off by partitions, the hexagonal form 

 is the one which comprehends the largest area com- 

 patible with the extent of the lines which inclose 



SP" 



Fig. 37.— Worker's Jaw (Magnified Twenty -four times). 

 gfm, Great Flexor Muscle ; a, Cutting Edge ; sc, Wax Scales. 



it ; for the equilateral triangle, the square, and the 

 hexagon, are the only regular figures which admit of 

 being joined without interstices, and the proportion 

 of the area to the periphery of every regular polygon 

 increases as the figure consists of a greater number 

 of sides, and is, therefore, greater in the hexagon 

 than in either of the other two ; besides, either a 

 triangular or square cell would form a most unsuit- 

 able nest for a chrysalis with a round body. 



But it is time that we endeavoured to understand 

 the manner in which the little artificer proceeds with 

 the wax which we have already seen attached to the 



