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The Life of the Bee placed on a pyramidal base; and two layers of these tubes form the comb, their bases being opposed to each other in such fashion that each of the three rhombs or lozenges which on one side constitute the pyramidal base of one cell, composes at the same time the pyramidal base of three cells on the other. It is in these prismatic tubes that the honey is stored; and to prevent its escaping during the period of maturation,—which would infallibly happen if the tubes were as strictly horizontal as they appear to be,—the bees incline them slightly, to an angle of 4° or 5°.

"Besides the economy of wax," says Réaumur, when considering this marvellous construction in its entirety, "besides the economy of wax that results from the disposition of the cells, and the fact that this arrangement allows the bees to fill the comb without leaving a single spot vacant, 190