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Show 230 INSTINCT. CHAP. VII. this by gnawing away the convex ~ide; and I suspect that the bees in such cases stand In the opposed cells and push and bend the ductile. and. warm wa~ (which as I have tried is easily done) Into Its proper Interme-diate plane, and thus flatten it. . .. From the experiment of the ridge of vermilion· wax, we can clearly see that if the bees were to build for themselves a thin wall of wax, they could make their cells of the proper shape, by standing at the proper distance from each other, by excavating at the same rate, and by endeavouring to 1nake equal spherical hollows, but never allowing the spheres to break into each other. Now bees, as may be clearly seen by examining the edge of a growing comb, do make a rough, circumferential wall or rim all round the comb ; and they gnaw into this from the oppo.site sides, always working circularly as they deepen each cell. They do not make the whole three-sided pyramidal base of any one cell at the same time, but only the one rhombic plate which stands on the extreme growing margin, or the two plates, as the case may be; and they never complete the upper edges of the rhombic plates, until the hexagonal walls are commenced. Some of these statements differ from those made by the justly celebrated elder Huber, but I am convinced .. of their accuracy; and if I had space, I could show that they are conformable with my theory. Huber's statement that the very first cell is excavated out of a little parallel-sided wall of wax, is not, as far as I have seen, strictly correct ; the first commencement having always been a little hood of wax; but I will not here enter on these details. We see how important a part excavation plays in the construction of the cells ; but it would be a great error to suppose that the bees cannot build up a rough wall of wax in the proper CHAP. VII. CELLS OF THE HIVE-BEE. 231 position-that is, along the plane of intersection between ~wo adjoining spheres. I have several specimens showIng clearly that they can do this. Even in the rude circumferential rim or wall of wax round a growing ?om?, flex_u~es may sometimes be observed, correspondIng In position to the planes of the rhombic basal plates of future cells. But the rough wall of wax has in every case to b.e finished off, by being largely gnawed away on both sides. The manner in which the bees build is curious; they always make the first rough wall from ten to twenty times thicker than the excessively thin finished wall of the cell, which will ultimately be left. We shall understand how they work, by supposing masons first to pile up a broad ridge of cement, and then to begin cutting it away equally on both sides near the ground, till a smooth, very thin wall is left in the middle ; the masons always piling up the cut-away cement, and adding fresh cement, on the summit of the ridge. We shall thus have a thin wall steadily growing upward ; but always crowned by a gigantic coping. From all the cells both those just commenced and those completed, bein~ thus crowned by a strong coping of wax, the bees can clu~ter and crawl over the comb without injuring the delicate hexagonal walls, which are only about one fourhundredth of an inch in thickness ; the plates of the pyramidal basis being about twice as thick. By this singular manner ?f building, strength is continually given to the comb, w1th the utmost ultimate economy of wax. . It seems at first to add to the difficulty of understandlug how the cells are made, that a multitude of bees all work toget~er ; one bee after working a short time at one cell gmng to another, so that, as Huber has stated a score of individuals work even at the commencement ~f the first cell. I was able practically to show this fact, by covering the edges of the hexagonal walls |
