182 
WAX AND COMB CONSTRUCTION. 
Standing vertically, and which would be compressed if 
the comb were stretched downwards, was actually a 
little more than in the others, being 12*17, while the 
others were 12*10 and 11*58. 
These, however, are not the only variations. There 
are much more remarkable ones in the bases of the 
cells. Huber ( 68 ) and Bevan ( 4 ) have pointed 
out some of them. These variations upset all the 
problems of the mathematicians with regard to this 
subject. The sizes of the rhombs may be so changed 
that two of them occupy nearly the whole space, while 
the third nearly disappears, and a fourth makes its 
appearance. The fourth face has often been attributed 
to cells which were intermediate between drone and 
worker, but it is also very common in the middle of 
both worker and drone combs. The causes of the 
introduction of the fourth face is owing to the varia- 
tion in the size of the cells, or incorrect alignment of 
them on the two faces of the comb. If a cell is con- 
structed as it should be, the edges of the three rhombs 
will come in contact with the sides of the cells, but if 
it is increased it must project beyond and come in 
contact with a fourth, which will form a new face. 
This sometimes happens in one cell, but more 
frequently in a series of from four to eight or nine. 
The illustration (Fig. 66, a) shows the gradual in- 
troduction of the fourth face, and a complete change 
^ from ^ to ^ in six cells, whereas in the figure b the 
change from c to d is made in ten or eleven cells. 
What we have said with regard to worker cells 
applies also to drone cells (b, Fig. 65), which are |th 
