"Besides the saving of wax effected by the form of the cells, the bees
adopt another economical plan suited to the same end. They compose the
bottoms and sides of wax of very great tenuity, not thicker than a
sheet of writing-paper; but as walls of this thickness at the entrance
would be perpetually injured by the ingress and egress of the workers,
they prudently make the margin at the opening of each cell three
or four times thicker than the walls. Dr. Barclay discovered, that
though of such excessive tenuity, the sides and bottom of each cell
are actually double, or in other words, that each cell is distinct,
separate, and in some measure an independent structure, agglutinated
only to the neighbouring cells; and that when the agglutinating
substance is destroyed, each cell may be entirely separated from the
rest. This, however, has been denied by Mr. Waterhouse, and seems
inconsistent with the account given by Huber, hereafter detailed; but
Mr. G. Newport asserts, that even the virgin-cells are lined with a
delicate membrane."