ircularly 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
that 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 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 showing clearly that
they can do this. Even in the rude circumferential rim or wall of wax
round a growing comb, flexures 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 be 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, being thus crowned by a strong coping of wax, the
bees can cluster and crawl over the comb without injuring the delicate
hexagonal walls. These walls, as Professor Miller has kindly ascertained
for me, vary greatly in thickness; being, on an average of twelve
measurements made near the border of the comb, 1/352 of an inch in
thickness; whereas t