COMB. 
75 
receptacles excluding the air, can appreciate the value of 
such an arrangement. 
“ There are only three possible figures of the cells,” says 
Dr. Reid, “ which can make them all equal and similar, 
without any useless spaces between them. These are the 
equilateral triangle, the square, and the regular hexagon. 
It is well known to mathematicians, that there is not a 
fourth way possible in which a plane may be cut into lit- 
tle spaces that shall be equal, similar, and regular, with- 
out leaving any interstices.” 
An equilateral triangle would have made a very uncom- 
fortable tenement for an insect with a round body ; and a 
square cell would have been but little better. A circle 
seems to be the best shape for the development of lie 
larvae; but such a figure would have caused a needless 
sacrifice of space, materials, and strength ; while the hoiu y, 
which adheres so admirably to the many angles of the 
six-sided cell, would have been much more liable to ran 
out. The body of the immature insect, as it undergoes 
its changes, is charged with a superabundance of moisture, 
which passes off through the reticulated cover of its 
cell ; may not a hexagon, therefore, while approaching so 
nearly to the shape of a circle, as not to incommode the 
young bee, furnish, in its six corners, the necessary vacan- 
cies for a more thorough ventilation ? 
Is it credible that these little insects can unite so many 
requisit es in the construction of their cells, either by chance, 
or because they are profoundly versed in the most intricate 
mathematics? Are we not compelled to acknowledge 
that the mathematics by which they construct a shape so 
complicated, and yet the only one which can unite so many 
desirable requirements, must be referred to the Creator, 
and not to his puny creature ? To an intelligent and can- 
