f honey and hang vertically they have to support a great weight.
Can the thicker basal plates be a contrivance to give strength to the
whole comb, with less consumption of wax, than if all the sides of the
hexagons were thickened?

This crude notion formerly crossed my mind; but of course it is beyond
me even to conjecture how the case would be.

A mathematician, Mr. Wright, has been writing on the geometry of
bee-cells in the United States in consequence of my book; but I can
hardly understand his paper. (75/1. Chauncey Wright, "Remarks on the
Architecture of Bees" ("Amer. Acad. Proc." IV., 1857-60, page 432.)

LETTER 76. TO T.H. HUXLEY.

(76/1. The date of this letter is unfortunately doubtful, otherwise
it would prove that at an early date he was acquainted with Erasmus
Darwin's views on evolution, a fact which has not always been
recognised. We can hardly doubt that it was written in 1859, for at
this time Mr. Huxley was collecting facts about breeding for his lecture
given at the Royal Institution on February 10th, 1860, on "Species and
Races and their Origin." See "Life and Letters," II., page 281.)

Down [June?] 9 [1859?].

If on the 11th you have half an hour to spare, you might like to see a
very good show of pigeons, and the enclosed card will admit you.

The history of error is quite unimportant, but it is curious to observe
how exactly and accurately my grandfather (in "Zoonomia," Volume I.,
page 504, 1794) gives Lamarck's theory. I will quote one sentence.
Speaking of birds' beaks, he says: "All which seem to have been
gradually produced during many generations by the perpetual endeavour of
the creatures to supply the want of food, and to have been delivered
to their posterity with constant improvement of them for the purposes
required." Lamarck published "Hist. Zoolog." in 1809. The "Zoonomia" was
translated into many languages.

LETTER 77. TO C. LYELL. Down, 28 [June 1859].

It is not worth while troubling you, but my conscience is uneasy at
having forgotten to thank you for your "Etna" (77/1. "On the Structure
of Lavas which have been consolidated on Steep Slopes, with remarks
on the Mode of Origin of Mount Etna, and on the Theory of 'Craters of
Elevation'" ("Phil. Trans. R. Soc." Volume CXLVIII., 1858, page 703).),
which seems to me a magnificent contribution to volcanic geology, and I
should think you might now rest on your oars in this department.

As soon as ever I can get a copy of my