646 
Origin of the Cells of the Hive Bee . [November, 
When the cells are filled with honey, or with full-grown 
larvae, they are hermetically closed with a lid of wax. The 
covered cell has then, as appears from numerous measure- 
ments, the exaCt form of the soap-bubbles above mentioned. 
The cells of the Melipona and those of single combs are also 
quite similar to soap-bubbles. The detached “ honey-pots” 
of the Melipona are globular, like a freely suspended bubble. 
If two such cells touch each other they become flattened at 
the point of contact. Three such cells, if sufficiently close 
together, take such a form that their planes of contact 
intersect each other at an angle of 120°. If numerous soap- 
bubbles, of equal magnitude, are arranged in a single plane, 
they approach the form of wasps’ cells. The phenomena of 
cohesion in the paper of wasps’ nests differ entirely from 
those of water and of wax, and produce a dome-shaped cell- 
bottom and cover. If a stratum of soap-bubbles is sus- 
pended vertically, and is brought in contact with a second 
similar stratum, the form of the ordinary double comb of 
the hive bee is produced. The agency in the formation of 
these kinds of cells is to be sought not in a skilful move- 
ment of the jaws of the inserts, but exclusively in physical 
causes. These are, in the case of wax, that the plastic and 
viscous material — just as is the case in soap-bubbles — gives 
way until a given space is enclosed by a minimum of sur- 
face. Hence planes are formed like those of Plateau’s 
equilibrium figures. 
The shape of the cells can no more be sought in the 
bodily structure of the bees than in their architectural skill. 
In view of the plastic character of the material and the 
manifold impulse to change of form connected with life in 
the hive, the cells must soon, if equally arranged, take the 
form of six-sided prisms terminated by Maraldi’s pyramids, 
even if the bees had globular or conical bodies. 
Here Miillenhoff is rather inclined to assume that the 
general bodily form of the Melipona, the bee, and the wasp, 
has been modified by the arrangement of their cells. 
