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Show 204: INSTINCT. [CHAP. VII Considering how flexible thin wax is, I do not see that there is any difficulty in the bees, whilst at ·work on the two sides of a strip of wax, perceiving when they have gnawed the wax away to the proper thinness, and then stopping their ·work. In ordinary combs it has appeared to 1ne that the bees do not always succeed in working at exa~tly the same rate fr01n the opposite sides ; for I have noticed half-oo1npleted rho1nbs at the base of a just-commenced cell, which were slightly concave on one side, 'vhere I suppose that the b.ees had excavated too quickly, and convex on the opposed side, where the bees had worked less quickly In one well-marked instance, I put tho comb back into the hive, and allowed the bees to go on working for a short time, and again examined the cell, and I found that the rhombic plate had been co1npleted, and had becon1e p erfectly flat,· it was absolutely impossible, from the extreme thinness of the little rhombic plate, that they could have effected this by gnawing away the bon vex side; and I suspect that the bees in such cases stand in the oppo·sed cells and push and bend the ductile and wann wax (which as I have tried is easily done) into its proper intennediate plane, and thus flatten it. From the experin1ent of the ridge of vermilion wax, we can clearly see that if the bees were to build for thenlselves 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 n1ake 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 opposite 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 smne 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 rh01nbic plates, until the hexagonal walls are commenced. Some of these statemente differ from those made by the justly celebrated elder I-Iuber, CHAP. VII.] CELLS OF TITE HIVE-BEE. 205 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 position-that is, along the plane of intersection between two adjoining spheres. I have several specimens sho·wing clearly that they can do this. Even in the rude circumferential rim or wall of wax round a growing comb, .flexures may SOlnethnes 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 be finished off, by being largely gnawed away on both sides. The manner in wh1ch the bees b:uild is curious ; they always make the first rough wall from ten to twenty times thicker than the excessively thin finished 'vall of the cell, which will ultimately be left. We shall understand how they work, by supposing 1nasons 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 comn1enced and those cOinpleted, being thus crowned by a strong coping of 'vax, the bees can cluster and crawl over the comb without iniuring the delicate hexagonal walls, which are only about one four-hundreth of an inch in thickness ; the piates of the pyramidal basis being about twice as thick. By this singular manner of building, strength is continually given to the comb, with the utmost ultimate economy of wax. It seems at first to add to the difficulty of understanding how the cells are 1nade, that a multitude of bees all work together; one bee after working a short time at one |