Question

Describe Darwin’s investigation into honey bee cells when he was studying them and the importance of his discoveries in an evolutionary context (stuff he noticed about the bees).

Answer 1

Charles Darwin Experimental Setup and findings -

Darwin hived and managed the honey bees with the aid of Vicar of St Mary’s church in Downe in a glass sided hive. He used to observe the bee behaviour, their exercise of building wasps and combs through these glasses.

Through this observation he concluded that bees uses wax efficiently as they have instinct to carve wax into spheres at a set distance and then produce hexagonal cells with interlocking bases.

He believed that this instinct of building comb is inherited since millions of years of evolution