1897] BEES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF FLOWERS 101 



benefits of cross-fertilisation, and their descendants would therefore 

 be more numerous and vigorous than of those not visited. This 

 more vigorous progeny of the insect-visited and cross-fertilised 

 flowers would gradually live down the less vigorous offspring of the 

 unvisited flowers. Hence any particular character perseveringly 

 selected by insects for many generations would come to predominate, 

 be gradually perfected, and finally form a new specific type. 



Such is a brief outline of the theory which has captivated the 

 minds, not only of men of science, but also of the public, and which 

 has been accepted by almost every evolutionist as the explanation 

 of the form and colour of flowers. Professor Henslow's amendment, 

 while still depending on selection and the benefits of cross-fertilisa- 

 tion, attributes the alteration in the shape and colour of the flower 

 to the direct stimulus of the insect's action. Thus an insect hanging 

 to the lower petal of a flower elongates the same by its weight, and 

 the lengthened petal is transmitted by heredity ; the irritation 

 caused by its feet in walking along the flower causes the appearance 

 of colouring matter, and the colour is likewise transmitted ; as it 

 probes for honey it causes a flow of sweet sap to that part, and this 

 also becomes hereditary. This view is quite too Lamarckian for 

 England or Germany, whatever may be its fate in America. 



The weight of authority supporting the insect selection theory, 

 and its wide acceptance in scientific circles, renders it perhaps a 

 little rash to criticise it adversely ; yet a series of observations on 

 the habits of bees with regard to flowers extending over many years, 

 has forced me to the conclusion that it has no sufficient foundation 

 in fact. Details of some of these observations have been given else- 

 where, and I shall here state only the general results. Bees have 

 been chosen because, of all insects, these are the easiest and most 

 interesting to watch in their visits to flowers. They are also 

 the most important of insects for the theory, since they are by far 

 the most frequent and regular visitors of flowers. If the bee's action 

 can be shown to be insufficient, no one will support the claims of any 

 other insect. Let us, then, see what the bee really does in the way 

 of selecting special forms and colours of flowers by watching it in 

 the fields and gardens, and consider what effect this can have on the 

 flowers visited. 



It has been frequently pointed out that Sir John Lubbock's ex- 

 periments prove that bees have special tastes for certain colours, and 

 that they prefer red and blue, especially the latter. This preference 

 of the bee for blue is one of the cardinal points of the theory, and 

 has been considered almost sufficient in itself to justify the assump- 

 tion that blue flowers have been evolved by their selective action. 

 But without wishing in the least to disparage the work of one of our 

 great authorities on insects, I submit that observations of what bees 



