48 
Beekeeping 
(the common septum) but on all the edges of the comb there 
may often be noticed a sloping of the outer ends of the cell 
walls toward the edge of the comb (Fig. 36, c). Where drone 
and worker cells join, the bees overcome the lack of conform¬ 
ity by building transition cells (Fig. 36, b and e, Fig. 37) of 
irregular shape. Such cells usually cannot be used for brood¬ 
rearing. Attention should perhaps be drawn to the differ¬ 
ence between vertical and horizontal sections of comb (Fig. 
36, a, b and d ). An examination of a comb will show these 
illustrations to be 
correct, although 
many authors of 
books on bees 
persist in labeling 
drawings like Fig. 
36, d as vertical 
sections. In ad¬ 
dition to the ir¬ 
regular transition 
cells, the cells at 
the junction of 
the comb to its 
support are quite 
irregular. 
The combs of 
the natural nest 
are often not straight but are bent and curved in various 
ways. The several combs may be parallel or, if this is 
not the case, the irregular spaces may be filled with short 
combs. Notwithstanding the irregularity of the whole 
comb, individual cells of the comb are commonly quite 
uniform. This regularity has been greatly overestimated, 
however. Reaumur went so far as to advise that the 
width of a cell be adopted as a legal unit of measure, but 
even a cursory examination of naturally built comb will 
show how impractical this would have been. There are also 
in bee-lore traditions of the marvelous accuracy with which 
Fig. 37. — Piece of new comb showing transition 
cells. 
