, 1909-09-04

HAAO Wv jill CAO ~ . CIdI SCu Will DOL
len and moves up one side of the bee, lodg-
ing some of the pollen among it's hairs, the
stigma having first taken up some Of that
which the bee has brought from other flow
ers of the kind. Now all becomes clear,
the reason Of the bend to one side, the use
of the hard, polished tip of the style, the
meanine of the slender stamens and the
meaning of the brush.
The writer had once in his garden some
plants of the ordinary pale blue morning
glory and at the same time some plants Of
q deep purple morning-glory. The former
always bore seed, the latter never, Why?
Perhaps the solution was found in the fol-
lowing observation The large black bee
went inside the flowers of the former, but
outside the flowers of the latter, from which
she stole the nectar by Sitting the flower
tube near its base, which il seems was too
marrow to allow of her getting down far
enough by entering at the 'front.' door.
There are other cases where the bees
get what they want without really being of
any use to the flower. Az examples we may
take the case of the two plants known re-
spectively IS massambeef and wild nassau
beet The flowers of both kinds open late
IA the afternoon. Those of the latter, the
larger Of the two plants, are quite pretty
when each throws up its four clear white Pc
tails fan-like to attract the twilight moths.
Its six stamens and it's pistil stand out in
frOnt,and ut their bRses,a s the light dies away,
we see q drop Of nectar forming like n drop of
dew or rain that has fallen upon the flower.
If we wait we shall see the moths come to
the feast. Here there is no tube or other
protection, all is open, the moth comes, how
ers over the anthers at the end of the sta
mems and over the pistils and so fertilises
the flowers. Do we not care to remain to
see this, then we can examine the pistils
the following morning and we shall often
find the scales of the moths upon them.
But before the moths come we hear the
buzzing of honey bees. Do they come
for the nectar? No, at least the pres
ent writer has not seen them taking it
but they come for the pollen. Clever little
creatures they IRE, flying to the dropping
Btsmens one sitter another they take hold
just above the long, narrow anther, then
let themselves sli le down over it like q
sailor sliding off a ropes end. In this way
they accumulate before dark a good supply
of bee bread as their last contribution for
the day to the supplies Of the large COM
munity which they serve. The other plant
(massambee) is not 30 conspicuous. Besides
this it has several marks which distinguish
it from it's more robust cousin, one of which is
that the stamens do not spring out from the
flower, but from about halfway mp a long
stalk, which las in the other case also) sup
ports the pistil. Like the flowers Of the
larger plant, these also open for the twilight
moths and are furnished with drops Of
nectar before the darkness sets in. To them
the bees come, and in this case there is a
division of labour, one set slipping nectar
she other SGT collecting pollen, and it Is
most interesting to see how the two sets
work without interference with each other
1t seems that they carry on their labours
under the %strictest discipline. 1t need hard
ly be said that neither of the operations in
this case is of the slightest use to the flow
or; but the supply both Of nectar and pollen
IS ample, and SO the flower gets it's little
ovules fortified and spreads it's kind around
in spite of the small daily thefts perpetrated
by the "1ittle busy bee"
*CdndUqAjG O6tuSit0LjG.
+* VigmG Juteol0.
fCEeonee p~entaphylta.
4C3eome PupgenS.