170 JOHN H. LOVELL 



honey season occurred at Delanson in 1906. For several days a 

 hive on scales had shown a gain of eight pounds a day; but dur- 

 ing the night of August 24 there was a light shower and a de- 

 cline in temperature of 1 1 degrees F., after which the hive on scales 

 did not show a gain of half a pound any day that fall. The bees 

 immediately ceased visiting the flowers, and in countless thousands 

 attempted to rob each other and the honey house. 39 Owing to 

 the intermittent nature of the flow of nectar, bees are more 

 irritable during the buckwheat harvest than during that of any 

 other plant. The time of the flight of the bees thus always 

 coincides with the period of active secretion of nectar, or if the 

 flowers are nectarless they neglect them almost entirely. 



The preceding experiments and studies of honey plants show 

 that honey-bees learn from observation and are guided by the 

 memory of past experience. Flowers rich in accessible food 

 supplies receive numerous visits, but if for any reason the flow 

 of nectar suddenly ceases the bees immediately discontinue 

 their visits. If the inflorescence of a plant species yields abundant 

 nectar in one locality but is devoid of nectar in another, even 

 though only a few miles intervene, the flowers in the former 

 place will be frequently visited and in the latter deserted. But 

 honey-bees do occasionally visit and examine conspicuous flowers 

 from which they can not obtain food materials, and it is upon 

 this premise that the argument of the present paper is based. 

 A. priori reasoning alone would lead the floroecologist, who 

 believes that conspicuousness is an advantage to flowers to this 

 conclusion, thus Campbell remarks that "it is safe to say that 

 no showy flower is entirely destitute of insect visitors." <« Much 

 evidence has already been adduced in support of this statement, 

 but it is desirable to give additional observations, made especially 

 for this purpose. The casual observer will often fail to discover 

 a single visitor, and may easily conclude that they never attract 

 the attention of insects; but long continued investigation 

 proves this to be a mistake. 



The variegated flowers of the Sweet William, or bunch pink, 

 (Dianthus barbatus L.), display the most vivid shades of crimson 

 and scarlet; and, as the name indicates, exhale a pleasant fra- 



il' Alexander, E. W., " Buckwheat as a Honev Producer," Gleanings in Bee 

 Culture, 35:394. 



"Campbell, D. H. ( ' 'Plant Life and Evolution," p. 227. 



