CONSPICUOUS FLOWERS RARELY VISITED BY INSECTS 169 



their visits are so rare that the flowers appear to be entirely 

 deserted through a long series of years. Honey-bees do not 

 usually visit the flowers legitimately, but procure the nectar 

 through a crevice in the side. 



An excellent illustration on a scale of great magnitude showing 

 that honey-bees are guided by the memory of past experience 

 in gathering nectar is furnished by the honey-flow of buckwheat, 

 Fagopyrum esculentum Moench., which Buttel-Reepen describes 

 as follows : 



" If colonies stand in buckwheat, the flight is lively in the 

 mornings until ten o'clock; then it lessens, and is entirely quiet 

 for the greater part of the day, beginning vigorously again the 

 next morning. The buckwheat nectar flows only in early 

 morning; so, as the nectaries dry up, the bees fly out a couple of 

 times and then discontinue their vain flight. In spite of the 

 shimmering sea of flowers, in spite of the strong fragrance, only a 

 few bees may usually be found after ten o'clock in the buck- 

 wheat field." »» 



The period of time during which the flowers of buckwheat 

 secrete nectar varies in different localities. In this region the 

 bees continue to work on them, according to observations made 

 by a young friend of the writer, until about 12 :30 p. m. Their 

 visits then quickly decrease in number until about 1 :00 o'clock, 

 when they cease entirely. But for an hour or more afterwards, 

 the bees may be seen occasionally flying from blossom to blossom, 

 pausing, however, for only an instant, as they apparently dis- 

 cover at once that the flowers are now nectarless. At Delanson, 

 N. Y., buckwheat yields nectar most abundantly between 9:00 

 o'clock in the morning and 2 :00 p. m. A bee is seldom at work 

 on it much earlier or much later, notwithstanding there are hun- 

 dreds of colonies of bees in the vicinity. In parts of the west, 

 buckwheat is a more uncertain honey plant than in the east and 

 in some years the flowers fail to become nectariferous, when they 

 are almost wholly deserted by bees. 3 . Again a sudden shower fol- 

 lowed by a fall in temperature may bring the buckwheat harvest 

 to an abrupt and premature close in August, when ordinarily it 

 would continue into September. Such an interruption of the 



» Buttel-Reepen, H. V., "Are Bees Reflex Machines ? " translated by Mary H. 

 Geisler, p. 29. 



» Root, A. I. and E. R., " The A B C and X Y Z of Bee Culture," p. 71. 



