26 
cells is the best adapted for containing the greatest 
possible quantity in the least possible space — and 
have excited admiration in every contemplative 
mind. The cells are of a hexagonal form; the 
circumference of one makes a part of the circum- 
ference of another ; were they contrived in any 
other shape, there could not be so many cells of 
equal capaciousness in the same given space. 
These cells, which are very thin, are strength- 
ened at the entrance by a fillet of wax, and also 
at the bottom, by the angle of one falling in the 
middle of its opposite. 
There are in every hive different sorts of combs, 
adapted to the different sorts of bees which are to 
be bred in them. The cells constructed for breed- 
ing drones are considerable larger than those in- 
tended for workers. Those intended for females, 
or queens, are of a very peculiar form, and fash- 
ioned with great labor and skill. 
The royal cells are of a pyramidal form, with 
a wide base, and a long diminished top. They 
hang perpendicular in die hive, the point down- 
wards. The cells for the drones are three and 
one third lines in diameter; those of the workers 
are two and three fifths lines, and these are inva- 
riably the dimensions observed in all hives. 
A number of cells united constitute the comb, 
formed in parallel sheets. Reaumur calculated 
that a comb twelve and a half inches square would 
contain 9000 cells. The primary object of the 
cells seems to be for propagating the young; after 
these have gained maturity, they are cleaned out 
and filled with honey : but there are cells, also, 
destined for this purpose from the beginning. The 
same cells may be employed for several successive 
broods, and when the whole have come to perfec- 
