COMB. 
75 
receptacles excluding the air, can appreciate the value of 
such an arrangement. 
u\ 0 n l J thl ' ee P ° Ssible fi S ures of the cells,” says 
. ' C1C ’ " UC1 can make t,10m 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 Jit- 
e 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 the 
aivae; but such a figure would have caused a needless 
sacrifice of space, materials, and strength ; while the honey, 
which adheres so admirably to the many angles of the 
six-sided cell, would have been much more liable to run 
out The body of the immature insect, as it undergoes 
1 s 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 
neaily to the shape of a circle, as not to incommode the 
young bee, furnish, in its six corners, the necessary vacan- 
cies lor a more thorough ventilation ? 
Is it credible that these little insects can unite so many 
requisites in the construction of their cells, either by chance 
or because they are profoundly versed in the most intricate 
Tnathematics? 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 Ins puny creature ? To an intelligent and cam 
