Ch. Till.] FOXGLOVE AXD HUMBLE-BEE. 131 



the tube, where they are caught as if in a trap, their 

 only way of exit being closed by the bill of the bird. 

 Whilst the bird is probing the flower, the pollen of the 

 stamens is rubbed in to the lower part of its head, and 

 thus carried from one flower to fecundate another. The 

 bottom of the flower is covered externally with a thick, 

 fleshy calyx an effectual guard against the attempts of 

 bees or wasps to break through to get at the honey. 

 Humming-birds feed on minute insects, and the honey 

 would only be wasted if larger ones could gain access 

 to it, but in the flower of the palosabre this contingency 

 is simply and completely guarded against. 



Many flowers have contrivances for preventing useless 

 insects from obtaining access to the nectaries. Amongst 

 our English flowers there are scores of interesting 

 examples, and I shall describe the fertilisation of one, 

 the common foxglove, on account of the exceeding sim- 

 plicity with which this object is effected, and to draw the 

 attention of all lovers of nature to this other branch of a 

 subject on which the labours of Darwin and other natu- 

 ralists have of late years thrown a flood of light. The 

 pollen of the foxglove (Digitalis purpurea} is carried from 

 one flower to another by the humble bee, who, far more 

 than the hive bee, that " improves each shining hour," 

 deserves to be considered the type of steady, persevering 

 industry. It improves not only the hours of sunshine, 

 but those of cloud, and even rain ; and, long before the 

 honey-bee has ventured from its door, is at work bustling 

 from, flower to flower, its steady hum changing to an 

 important squeak as it rifles the blossoms of their sweets. 

 The racemes of purple bells held up by the foxglove are 

 methodically visited by it, commencing at the bottom 



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