150 Mr. Hunter's Observations on Bees. 
softer than common wax, rather like the last mentioned, or 
those of which the lower edge of the plate of comb is made, 
or with which the bees cover the chrysalis : they have very 
little wax in their composition, not one third, the rest I con- 
ceive to be farina. 
This is supposed to be the cell in which the queen is bred, but 
I have reason to believe that this is only imagination : for, first, 
it is too large, and, moreover, seldom so deep as the large cells 
in which the males are bred ; whereas, if proportioned to the 
length of the queen, it ought to be deeper, for length of body 
is her greatest difference. In the second place, its mouth is 
placed downward ; and in the third place, it is never lined with 
the silken covering of the chrysalis, similar to the cells of the 
males and labourers ; nor do we find excrement at the bottom 
of it. The number of these cells is very different, in different 
hives. I think I have seen hives without any, and I have seen 
them with eleven or twelve, sometimes more. I have exa- 
mined them at all times through the summer, but never found 
any alteration in them. 
The comb seems at first to be formed for propagation, and 
the reception of honey to be only a secondary use ; for if the 
bees lose their queen, they make no combs ; and the wasp, 
hornet, &c. make combs, although they collect no honey ; and 
the humble bee collects honey, and deposits it in cells she never 
made. 
I shall not consider the bee as an excellent mathematician, 
capable of making exact forms, and having reasoned upon 
the best shape of the cell for capacity, so that the greatest 
number might be put into the smallest space (for the hornet 
and the wasp are much more correct, although not seemingly 
