Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 3.djvu/507

Rh of architecture, but inferred, from what he saw, that the wax was rejected from the stomach in the form of a white frothy liquor. No naturalist, indeed, prior to Huber, had been able to follow these insects in their labours, on account of their crowding together in a thick mass while they are building; but the expedients resorted to by that philosopher have unfolded the whole process, whbh he has given with great detail in the second volume of his Observations sur les Abeilles. Huber witnessed the whole of their actions, and saw that each bee drew out, with its hind feet, one of the plates of wax from under the scale where it was lodged, and carrying it to the mouth in a vertical position, turned it round, so that every part of its edge was made to pass in succession under the cutting edge of the jaws; it was thus soon divided into very small fragments, while at the same time a frothy liquor was poured upon it from the tongue, so as to form it into a perfectly plastic mass. This liquor gave the wax a whiteness and opacity which it did not possess originally, and rendered it at the same time tenacious and ductile. A quantity of wax thus prepared for use is accumulated, and applied to further the work in the manner we are presently to describe. But, in considering the process by which the comb is formed, a circumstance should be pointed out, which seems not to have been particularly noticed by any author except Huber, and yet it is one of essential importance in studying this process of architecture, namely, that the cells in the outside row on each side are of a form very different from those of the subsequent rows. As they take their origin from a plane surface, two of the sides necessary to complete the hexagon are cut off by this plane, so that the general form of the orifice is pentagonal ; and the bottom of the cells on one side is composed of two equal rhombs only, and on the other side of two trapezoidal planes, with one rhomb. Such a modification of shape was necessary, in order to prepare the way for the regularly-formed cells which were to follow. The foundations of the combs are laid by the bees raising a solid block or plate of wax of a semicircular form. In this they scoop out a small vertical channel, of the size of an ordinary cell. The sides of this channel are then strengthened by additions of wax. On the opposite side two other channels are formed, one on each side of the plane opposite to the former channel. The extremities of these channels, which at first present a curved outline, are then fashioned into straight walls, forming an angle at each vertex. The bottom of each cell being thus sketched out, the design is completed by raising walls round the sides. Different bees generally work on the opposite sides at the same time, and appear to have some perception of the thickness of the partitions, and of the situation of the opposite walls, in which they are perhaps guided by slight prominences, occasioned by the depressions which cor respond to them on the other side ; and they scrape off the wax in those places where its thickness is greatest, that is, where the bees on the other side had accumulated ma terials. In this way, then, in constructing the successive rows, the axis of each cell will be found to occupy the most retiring parts of the partition, and will be opposite to the junction of three of the opposite cells. Soon after the bees have completed the foundations, and constructed a few of the cells of the central comb, they begin two others, one on each side, at the proper distance, and in this manner continue to form others in succession, in proportion as the former are advanced. Their object at first seems to be to extend the surface of the work so as to admit of the greatest possible number of workers being employed at one and the same time. In this way, then, the work proceeds from all points at once, new cells being begun before the former are completed, so that the whole comb, while it is in progress of construction, has a semi- lenticular shape, broader at the top, and tapering below and towards the sides. It extends downwards, however, more rapidly than in any other direction, and its surfaces do not become parallel to each other till the last stage of the building process. When this is completed, the whole is further strengthened by an additional coating of propolis round the margin of all the cells ; and the junctions of every plane, both of the sides and bottoms of the cells, are also soldered together by a lining of the same substance. The edges of the combs are also secured in their situations by being glued to the side of the hive and supported by fresh abutments of propolis. Sometimes a mixture of wax and propolis, manufactured by the bees themselves, is employed as the cementing material. The first coating of this compound substance is denominated Commosis by Pliny, and described as having a bitter taste; the second, or the Pissoceros of the same author, is stated to be of a thinner consistence, and more adhesive than the former, virile the third substance, or Propolis, is completely solid. The cells recently constructed are white, but become gradually darker, and, when very ancient, are almost black. It is therefore easy to distinguish in a hive the successive periods of formation of different portions of the combs. From the researches of Huber, it appears that these varia tions of colour are not owing to any changes in the wax itself, but to additional coatings of a peculiar varnish, consisting of propolis and a colouring matter. The latter differs materially from propolis, being wholly insoluble in alcohol. It loses its colour by the action of nitric acid or the light of the sun. Its origin has not yet been discovered, nor has the mode in which it is applied been clearly made cut, although Huber presumes, from his observation, that the bees spread it by means of their mandibles, since he has seen them nib these against the sides of the cells, and noticed that they acquired a yellow colour from the operation.

Royal cells are only formed when it is necessary that queens should be reared, either from their being required to lead off swarms, or from the fact of the colony being queenless through accidental circumstances.

The comb of the hive may be said to be the furniture and storehouse of the bees, which by use must wear out; but, independently of this, it will in time become unfit for use, by the accumulation of cocoons, which are never removed. These line the whole cell, sides, and bottom. Hunter counted above twenty different linings in one cell, and found the cell about one-quarter or one-third filled up. Lord Brougham made some interesting observations on the cells of bees. By boiling the comb in alcohol after it had been bred in, he succeeded in dissolving the wax, leaving the lining only, which was found to be an extremely thin transparent or semi-transparent film, resembling gold beaters skin, without a wrinkle. The linings from old cells with thick walls kept the shape of the cells most distinctly. They had angles and planes as well defined as those of wax in the new comb, but they did not consist of a single film like the cells where one brood only had been raised. They had one film within another, and could be separated, so that as many as five or six could be extricated from the same cell; each of these had the hexagon form, and the first two, and sometimes three, had the rhomboidal form of the base also, but the innermost ones had the rhom buses less and less distinctly marked, till the last one or two of all had spherical instead of pyramidal bases. The film adhered so closely to the wax as to defend it from the action of the solvent and even from that of heat, preventing it from melting for a considerable time. The film fitted the wax cells so completely that there never was found the least wrinkle or laxity, each being tensely 