Entomological Society. 



6189 



of the foundations of numbers of cells on the under side of one of the bars of his leaf- 

 hive, which he had removed shortly after the swarm had been hived into it ; and also 

 that the outer portion of each cell was also cylindrical unlil a fresh cell was added on 

 its outer side, when the cell became an inner one, and its outer sides transformed into 

 an hexagon. 



Dr. Gray contended that the hexagonal form was undouVtedly the result of lateral 

 pressure, if cylinders composed of any yielding substance (vermicelli for example) 

 were placed side by side and subjected to such pressure, they were invariably forced 

 into the hexagonal form ; he considered the attempt made by Natural Theologians 

 to prove that the formation of an hexagonal rather than a cylindrical cell indicated 

 the possession of a greater degree of Divine wisdom bestowed on the insect, was the 

 greatest piece of humbug they had ever brought forward. 



Mr. Smith had tried the experiment with cylinders formed of paper pasted 

 together, but failed in producing the result stated by Dr. Gray; he was not prepared 

 to argue or to express any opinion upon the formation of the cells of the hive-bee, but 

 he was prepared to show that the common wasp {Vespa vulgaris) constructed her 

 hexagonal cells upon as predetermined a plan as a mason would build a stack 

 of hexagonal chimnies. When the wasp commences the construction of her nest, 

 having found or formed a suitable cavity, she begins by making three circular saucer- 

 shaped receptacles, in each of which she deposits an egg; she then proceeds to form 

 other similar shaped receptacles, until the eggs first deposited are hatched and the 

 young grubs require a share of her attention. From the circular bases she now begins 

 to raise her hexagonal cells — not building them up at once, but from time to time 

 raising them as the young grubs grow: this is all effected by the mother wasp, un- 

 assisted by a single worker; and it must be borne in mind, that she works with no 

 plastic material like wax, and that the hexagonal cells are built, course by course, like 

 layers of brickwork. There was fortunately in a box upon the table a specimen of a 

 small nest of a Brazilian wasp, {Polybia) ; these wasps construct in the first place 

 a comb of hexagonal cells, having, like that of the common wasp, circular bases ; over 

 the first comb they construct a flat covering or roof, and by this time the grubs are all 

 full-fed and the cells closed in ; the wasps now commence a second comb, and the flat 

 roof serves as the foundation to build upon : they form no cup-shaped bases, but 

 build up the walls of the hexagons as regularly as a mason would erect hexagonal 

 chimneys; in some instances, as might be seen in the nest before the Meeting, only 

 the foundation of the first plane of the hexagon is laid down, in another case two, 

 in another three, and so on ; but that wasps ever build cylinders, which afterwards 

 become hexagons, in Mr. Smith's opinion, has no foundation in fact. 



Mr. Tegetmeier added that he did not consider his experiments as conclusive evi- 

 dence on the subject ; he intended to repeat them and to ascertain, if possible, what 

 use was made of the wax taken from the excavations formed in the pieces of wax 

 which he provided to the bees, and, with that object in view, proposed to colour the 

 wax with Alkanet root before placing it on the bars of the hive. 



Mr. Tegetmeier exhibited to the Meeting a new observatory hive which he had 

 lately constructed, having the sides each composed of three plates of glass placed 

 about a quarter of an inch apart, and each made perfectly air-tight at the junction 

 with the frame ; by this contrivance he considered a nearly uniform temperature would 

 be maintained in the hive despite external atmospheric changes. 



