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Show 206 INSTIN0T. (CHAP. VII. cell going to another, so that, as I-Iuber has stated, a score of individuals work even at the commencement of the first cell. I "'\vas able. practically to show this fact, by covering the edges of the hexagonal walls of a single cell, or the extreme ~argin of the circumferential rim of a growing cmnb, With an extremely thin layer of melted vermilion wax; and I invariably found that the colour was most delicately diffused by the bees-as delicately as a painter could haye done with his brush-by atoms of the coloured wax having been taken. from the spot on which it had been placed, and worked Into the growing edges of the cells all round. The work of construction seems to be a sort of balance struck between many bees, all instinctively standing at the saine relative distance from each other ail tryiJ?-g to sweep equal spheres, and then building up, or leaving ungnawed, the planes of intersection between these spheres. It was really curious to note in cases of difficulty, as when two pieces of comb met at an anO'le !1ow. often the bees would entirely pull down and reb;i'nJ In d1fferent ways the same cell, sometimes recurring to a shape which they had at first rejected. .When bees ~a_ve a place on which they can stand in thmr proper pos1tlo~s for working-for instance, on a slip of w?od, placed directly under the middle of a coinb growing downwards so that the comb has to be built over one fac~ of the slip-in this case the bees can lay the foundations of one wall of a new hexagon in its strictly proper place, projecting beyond the other dompleted cells. It suffices that the bees should be enabled to stand at their proper relative distances from each other and from the ~ails. of the last completed cells, and then, by striking Imaginary spheres, they can build up a wall intermediate between two adjoining spheres; but, as far as I have seen, .they never gnaw avvay and finish off the angles of ::1. cell till a large p~rt bot~ of that .eel! and of the adjoining cells has be~n b~Ilt. This capae1ty In bees of laying down under certain 01rcumstances a rough wall in its proper place between two just-com1nenced cells, is important as It bears o~ a fact, which seen1s at first quite subversiv~ of the foregmng theory ; namely, that the cells on the ex- CHAP. NII.) CELLS OF 'fHE HIVE-BEE. 207 treme Inargin of wasp-combs are somethnes strictly hex~ agonal ; but I have not space here to enter on this subject. Nor does there seem to me any great difficulty in a single insect (as in the case of a queen-wasp) making hexagonal cells, if she work alternately on the inside and outside of two or three cells commenced at the same ·time, always standing at the proper relative distance from the parts of the cells just begun, sweeping spheres or cylinders, and building up intermediate planes. It is even conceivable that an insect might, by fixing on a point at which to commence a cell, and then moving outside, first to one point, and then to five other points, at the proper relative distances froin the central point and fron1 each other, strike the planes of intersection, and so make an isolated hexagon : but I am not aware that any such case has been observed; nor would any good be derived from a single hexagon being built, as in its construction more materials would be required than for a cylinder. As natural selection acts only by the accu1nulation of slight modifications of structure or instinct, each profitable to the individual under its conditions of life, it n1ay reasonably be asked, how a long and graduated succession of modified architectural instincts, all tending towards the present perfect plan of construction, could have profited the pro$enitors of the hive-bee? I think the answer is not difficult : it is known that bees are often hard pressed to get sufficient nectar ; and I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier that it has been experimentally found that no less than from twelve to fifteen pounds of dry sugar are consumed by a hive of bees for the secretion of each pound of wax ; so that a prodigious quantity of fluid nectar must be collected and consumed by the bees in a hive for the secretion of the wax necessary for the con~ truc~ioJ?- of their combs. Mo:eover, many bees have to rmnain 1dle for many days dunng the process of secretion. A large store of honey is indispensable to support a large stock of bees during the winter; and the security of the hive is known mainly to depend on a large number of bee.s being supported. Hence the saving of wax by largely saving honey must be a n1ost important element |