Hexagonal shape of comb cells explained.

I first read of this phenomenon in the excellent book by Jurgen Tautz “the Buzz About Bees: Biology of a Superorganism” HIGHLY recommended reading for all of us! Most beeks think the bees form the hexagonal shape of the wax cells intentionally, but additional study of the physics behind wax and the early spherical shape laid down shows a transformation occurring—-here is a quote from the link below. Susan

http://www.nature.com/news/how-honeycombs-can-build-themselves-1.13398

In 1917, the Scottish zoologist D’Arcy Thompson argued, again by analogy with bubbles, that surface tension in the soft wax will pull the cell walls into hexagonal, threefold junctions2. A team led by Christian Pirk, then at the University of Würzburg in Germany, showed in 2004 that molten wax poured into the space between a regular hexagonal array of cylindrical rubber bungs does indeed retract into hexagons as it cools and hardens3.