> I looked at the foundation and the combs. They're the same on both sides.

I looked carefully at the foundation I have here and what Dee describes
seems quite obvious to me.  What you say is true too -- unless you
arbitrarily designate one edge as the top, and then they are different..

If you hold a frame of foundation up vertically in front of you  -- top bar
up -- and examine the bottom of each cell base, you will see that the three
surfaces of the bottom meet to form a Y.  The Y will either be upright or
inverted.  If you then and then rotate the frame around a *vertical* axis,
so that it is again in front of you with the top bar up, and examine the
bottom of each cell base on this opposite side, you will observe that the Y
is inverted from the attitude observed on the first side. Although three
quadrilaterals form the pyramidal base of each cell, the cells on opposite
sides of comb are offset from one another.

Thus, there *is* a difference between the cell bottoms on one side of a
comb and those on the opposite side when combs are held in their normal
vertical position.  Does this matter?  Up to now, nobody seems to have
thought that it does, although I am sure every beekeeper has wondered when
moving combs around in hives.

Now -- if I understand -- Michael says that the natural nests he has
observed have the combs arranged so that it appears that there is an 'in'
side and an 'out' side for each comb that is detectable by looking at the
cell bases.  Is this accidental, and just a result of the bees behaviour,
or does it have some deep significance?  Can this phenomenon be observed
around the world?

Will we soon be marking all our top bars with arrows indicating correct
orientation with regard to the hive centre?

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allen
http://www.internode.net/honeybee/diary/