THE GUESTS OF THE MAYFLOWER. 



21 



Fig. 4. Orange-banded Bumblebee. 



not serve the purpose, so that the insects only are left. It might 

 at first seem that so early in the spring as the may flower appears 

 there would be few insects abroad 

 not enough to accomplish the 

 desired results. But centuries of 

 experience have taught the plant 

 that the nectar hidden beneath 

 her blushing petals will attract 

 many visitors. On Blueberry Hill 

 the most useful and abundant vis- 

 itor is the beautiful orange- banded 

 bumblebee.* Dozens of the large 

 females, which have wintered over 

 in some sheltered nook, are usual- 

 ly present, busily gathering the nectar concealed in the bases of 

 the corollas. Each bee stops but a few seconds at a flower, and 



visits on an average three or four 

 bunches of blossoms a minute. After 

 alighting either on a flower or the 

 leaves, or the ground between, the bee 

 crawls from blossom to blossom, poking 

 its nose, so to speak, down under the 

 leaves that none shall be missed, and 

 often visiting a dozen heads before tak- 

 ing to wings again. When the wind 

 blows hard a frequent occurrence on 

 such hilltops Madame Bombus (these 

 early spring forms are all females, the 

 so-called queens) flies still more rarely, 

 crawling long distances instead. The 

 tongue of this bee is two fifths of an 

 inch long, and its tip readily reaches 

 the bottom of the corolla, being thrust 

 quickly down between the hairs. There 

 are generally several blossoms in a sin- 

 gle head, and, as a rule, each is plun- 

 dered before the visitor departs. I saw 

 one bee visit six heads in ninety sec- 

 onds, and another seven heads in the 

 same length of time. On the supposi- 

 tion that there were five blossoms per 

 head, the first bee was plundering twen- 

 ty flowers a minute. Supposing that 

 half of each hour was spent between 



Fig. 5. Bombus bifaku s. 

 Kind Lett. 



* BornfjHs h'lfarius Cr. 



