Page - 281 - in The Origin of Species
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Text of the Page - 281 -
CELL-MAKING INSTINCT 281
completed; but this is never permitted, the bees building per-
fectly flat walls of wax between the spheres which thus
tend to intersect. Hence, each cell consists of an outer
spherical portion, and of two, three, or more flat surfaces,
according as the cell adjoins two, three, or more other cells.
When one cell rests on three other cells, which, from the
spheres being nearly of the same size, is very frequently
and necessarily the case, the three flat surfaces are united
into a pyramid; and this pyramid, as Huber has remarked,
is manifestly a gross imitation of the three-sided pyramidal
base of the cell of the hive-bee. As in the cells of the hive-
bee, so here, the three plane surfaces in any one cell neces-
sarily enter into the construction of three adjoining cells.
It is obvious that the Melipona saves wax, and what is more
important, labour, by this manner of building; for the flat
walls between the adjoining cells are not double, but are
of the same thickness as the outer spherical portions, and
yet each flat portion forms a part of two cells.
Reflecting on this case, it occurred to me that if the Meli-
pona had made its spheres at some given distance from each
other, and had made them of equal sizes and had arranged
them symmetrically in a double layer, the resulting structure
would have been as perfect as the comb of the hive-bee. Ac-
cordingly I wrote to Professor Miller of Cambridge, and
this geometer has kindly read over the following statement,
drawn up from his information, and tells me that it is
strictly correct : —
If a number of equal spheres be described with their
centres placed in two parallel layers ; with the centre of each
sphere at the distance of radius X y 2, or radius X 1.41421
(or at some lesser distance), from the centres of the six
surrounding spheres in the same layer; and at the same dis-
tance from the centres of the adjoining spheres in the other
and parallel layer; then, if planes of intersection between
the several spheres in both layers be formed, there will re-
sult a double layer of hexagonal prisms united together by
pyramidal bases formed of three rhombs; and the rhombs
and the sides of the hexagonal prisms will have every angle
identically the same with the best measurements which have
been made of the cells of the hive-bee. But I hear from
back to the
book The Origin of Species"
The Origin of Species
- Title
- The Origin of Species
- Author
- Charles Darwin
- Publisher
- P. F. Collier & Son
- Location
- New York
- Date
- 1909
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 10.5 x 16.4 cm
- Pages
- 568
- Keywords
- Evolutionstheorie, Evolution, Theory of Evolution, Naturwissenschaft, Natural Sciences
- Categories
- International
- Naturwissenschaften Biologie
Table of contents
- EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 5
- AN HISTORICAL SKETCH of the Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species 9
- INTRODUCTION 21
- Variation under Domestication 25
- Variation under Nature 58
- Struggle for Existence 76
- Natural Selection; or the Survival of the Fittest 93
- Laws of Variation 145
- Difficulties of the Theory 178
- Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection 219
- Instinct 262
- Hybridism 298
- On the Imperfection of the Geological Record 333
- On the Geological Succession of Organic Beinss 364
- Geographical Distribution 395
- Geographical Distribution - continued 427
- Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs 450
- Recapitulation and Conclusion 499
- GLOSSARY 531
- INDEX 541