Kevin..re your enquiry on why bees build hexagons...I
have a reference in my card files to a paper by Toth L
Fejes 1964. What the bees know and what they do not
know . Bull American Math Soc 70(4) 468-481.
 
Haven't seen the paper so don't know whether it has
anything useful but my brief notes on the card say the
most effecient shape for a cell base is 2 hexagons
plus 2 rhombi not 3 rhombi as bees build. Yep, that's
what they say alright.!!
 
 
Murray Reid
Maf Quality Management
New Zealand
[log in to unmask]
 
>>> Kevin Roddy <[log in to unmask]>
31/August/1995 02:44pm >>>
Hello all--
 
A professor at the university asked me to forward this
request to you.
I'm a reference librarian, and beekeeper myself in
Puna, on the Island of
Hawai'i.
 
Kevin--
 
 
I am looking for *documented references* to books,
periodicals or research reports which give answers to
the following question:
 
 
      What makes the cells of honeybee combs
hexagonal?
 
 
      I'm not especially interested in unreferenced
opinions unless they're from apiculturists (bee people).
 I have plenty of unreferenced opinions of my own.  But
I would welcome opinions from apiculturalists, or
information they may have found when reading about
bees (even ifthese reference are out of date.)
 
      The two main theories are 1) Geometry: bees try
to make cylindrical cells, but close-packing forces the
cells into hexagonal shapes, and 2) Instinct: that bees
have a specific instinct to build hexagons when cells
are near each other.
(Single queen cells are cylindrical.)
 
      Buffon argued for geometry in the 1750s, Lord
Brougham for instinct in the 1830s, D'Arcy Thompson
for geometry in 1913, and von Frisch for instinct in
1974.
 
      Does anyone know of further references or for
scholars who are currently or have recently examined
this problem (either in published form or unpublished
manuscripts?
 
You may send mail directly to me at the e-mail
address below.
 
Thank you in advance for any information you can
provide.
 
Ron Amundson
Univ. of Hawaii at Hilo
Hilo, HI  96720 [log in to unmask]