The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1923-01-08
Fiction Detective Is 0utdone in
Quest for Clues to Secret
Of the Flowers.
EVEN BEES HELP IN SEARCH
Question of Which Buds Attract
Honeymakers Has Important Bear
Ing or Case-Bee Carries Tell
tale Entries on Legs.

49, NV UNI IAOA
science for improvement Of detectiv
methods, DR.. f. X. Richtmyer Of Coz
nell university and DR.. L. e. Lutz O
the American Museum OF Natural His
tory have been borrowing detectiv
methods for scientific research in tn,
last year. They have been engaged b,
the National Research council to soly,
one of the important problems Of sci
ence. 1t is essentially a detective job
requiring the most delicate kind Of
trailing, spying, spotting and inside
work.
The mere statement of the mystery
does not suggest false whiskers
marked bills and the dictaphone. The
problem is simply: "Why have flowers
color?'
Until recently it was assumed, or
orthodox Darwinian lines, that flowers
had developed colors to attract pol
lenating insects whose visits were nee
essary for the manufacture of seeds.
But recently this theory has been chal-
lenged. Experiments have indicated
that insects may be color-blind. Some
apparently cannot see red. Why should
flowers be red if bees, moths and other
pollenating insects cannot see red?
Why should they display other hues,
brilliant to the human eye but appar-
emily Invisible to insects?
Blind to Some CoIors.
Other experiments indicated that If
the bee, the moth and the fly are blind
to some colors that we see they can
see other colors invisible to us. They
can see or in some way detect ultra
violet light, which is mere blackness
to human beings. SO it became i'm
portant to learn how ultraviolet colors
attract insects.
Doctor Richtmyer, a physicist of Cor
nell, and Doctor Lutz, an entomologist
of the American Museum of Natural
History, were chosen to work out the
fine detective devices needed for sleuth-
ing among insects and flowers.
The investigators were put on the
case to discover whether flower colors, |
visible and INVISIBLE, are efficient in
attracting insects, Il
A years work on this difficult case
has produced a good deal of informa- |
tion. Doctor Richtmyer has found flow |
ers which reflect no. ultraviolet. color
at all, others which reflect 1t richly, |
others which reflect it in varying pro
and some which reflect 1t
from some parts Of their sur
face and not at all from other parts.
The next step. is to discover whether
bee Shows a preference for flowers
which are strong In ultraviolet color
ing-whatever il. may he-or whether
It is biased In favor of any particular /
color.
A year ago the only method for solv-
ng the problem was Ieg-work. The
scientist would have to pick out a bee
shadow it, following the bee from
lower to flower and jotting down In
lis notebook, like a Scotland Yard
nan, what flowers the insect visited
md what II. overlooked. But it Is diff
icult to follow a bee on its rounds, be-
ause it keeps darling off in unexpect-
d directions and losing itself among
he other bees in the same field. 1t
would take many years of field work
y many observers to get enough stalls
les to establish what colors d bee pre-
ers.
Hero Doctor LTf1 invented a short
ut, an armchair detective trick which
Il scientist III his laboratory to ]
ather facts in n day which the
old yvOrEay. oo,,IJ pnS no11pa+s ~ n r
ear. 1t might be expressed briefly by l
lying that the bee keeps q diary and
lat the investigator discovered a 5
leans of reading the diary. Sherlock
dimes reconstructed the route walked
= his friend Watson from the varia-
ons of mud stain on Watson's boots.
lIllai teIl;ale entries are recorded on
.e legs of the bee. They are placed
In - tho hea IN storing his honey,
that his conduct day by day for a
none season is registered in detail.
Traced by Pollen. Z
The grains of pollen indicate where !.
bee has been. Each flower has a L
type of pollen grain. Under :
e microscope one is like a curry I
NIB, another is a disk, a third is a
zenge, a fourth is covered with hair, I
fifth is twisted like a figure s and SO u
/. A grain from any flower is distin- Z
ishable from the grain Of any other =
wer. =
a bee, the Investigator found, =
ush off his legs, examine the sweep
IS under n microscope and from the
OF the grains 1t is possible to
| every flower which the bee has
tied of honey on its last flight.
By another application of this meth
it is possible to lay bare the history
a given bee for months. In storing
ney IN special cells for the young the
;, on each return to the hive, depos-
the pollen grains that stick to its
Try legs Examination Of the group
cells under the microscope Yields
nplete biographical data. 1t is pos
lie to tell what flowers the bee visit
and which. were its favorites.
IN enormous anountfof inf0rfaation
nut bees may thus be obtained. =