"royal cells" which are exceptional and are of acorn shape.
Then there are the large cells in which the male bees are reared, and
in which provisions are stored when the flowers furnish forth of their
abundance. Then there are the little cells which may be called the
"cradles of the working bees," which are also employed as ordinary
store-rooms. These generally occupy about eight-tenth's of the
total surface of the combs in a hive; and finally there are a certain
number of what may be called transition cells. Although these latter
are inevitably irregular, the dimensions of the second or third type
are so well calculated that when the decimal system was first
established, and people were seeking an incontestable standard of
measurement, it was the cell of the bee which was proposed first of
all by Reamur. Each one of these cells is an hexagonal tube placed
upon a pyramid form, and each honeycomb is formed of two strata of
these tubes, base to base, in such a way that the three lozenges which
make the pyramid-like base of one cell form at the same time the
pyramid-like bases of the three cells on the other side.

[Illustration: WORKER.] [Illustration: DRONE.]

In these prismatic tubes the honey is stored away--and so that the
honey shall not trickle out as it would be likely to do if they were
built strictly horizontal--they are tilted up at the outer edge of an
angle of four or five degrees.

"Besides the saving in wax," says Reamur, speaking of this marvellous
building, "which is effected by this arrangement of the
cells,--besides the fact that by this plan the comb may be filled
without a single gap, there are other advantages in the way of the
solidity thus given.... Every possible advantage in the way of the
solidity of each cell is brought about by the manner of its
construction, and by its place with reference to the rest of the cells
in the comb."

"Students of geometry know," says Dr. Reid, "that there are only three
shapes that can be employed to divide a surface into, uniform spaces,
that shall be regular in shape, and without interstices.

[Illustration: SECTION OF CELLS CONSTRUCTED BY BEES.]

"They are the equilateral triangle, the square, and the regular
hexagon, which latter, in the matter of cell construction, is superior
to the two first both from the point of view of strength and utility,
and it is just this form that the bees have adopted, precisely as
though its advantages were familiar to the