MUTUAL BENEFITS OF INSECTS AND 



PLANTS. 



A LECTUKE DELIVERED BEFOEE THE STATE BEE CONVENTION AT 



LANSING. 



BY PROF. W. J. BEAL. 



The mutual benefits of insects and plants are wonderful, varied and manifold. 

 With some plants, like Indian corn, pines and spruces, the wind is the promi- 

 nent agent in distributing the pollen. To atone for this imperfect method and 

 the great waste likely to follow, nature secretes a profusion of the fertilizing- 

 dust. In the case of the trumpet-creeper and many tropical plants, the hum- 

 ming bird often transfers pollen from flower to flower. In some instances 

 snails do a similar work ; in others, water, as in the case of our eel-grass. In 

 many cases flies, butterflies, moths, beetles, and bugs are very efficient in the 

 same good work. Hornets, wasps, bumble-bees, and especially honey-bees, are 

 also frequent visitors to the flowers of plants for the purpose of collecting the 

 pollen and nectar for themselves and for their young. Of all insects, the 

 hive bees and their allies show the most intelligence in their behavior towards 

 plants. 



The flowers of our willows and poplars are of two kinds, — male and female. 

 The flowers are on distinct trees which are often separated by considerable dis- 

 tances. In some cases the pollen may be transferred by the wind, but in most 

 cases it is undoubtedly carried by the bees, which are very active while the flow- 

 ers are fresh in early spring. The flowers of all our melons, pumpkins, 

 squashes, cucumbers, and gourds are of two kinds on different portions of the 

 same plant. The flowers are each furnished with a long or rather deep corolla 

 in many cases, and the plants often lie flat on the ground where the leaves cover 

 the flowers from the action of the wind. Bees and other insects are the neces- 

 sary agents in crossing the flowers, and to them we are indebted as one of the 

 links in the chain which affords all our gourd -like fruits. In nature there arc 

 many other examples of plants in which the two kinds of flowers are separate, 

 as in oak, chestnut, beech, hazel, walnut, hickory, and many more. But how 

 is it with most of our flowers which are perfect, i. e. those having both stamens 

 and pistils? I should have mentioned that notwithstanding the stamens and 

 pistils are near each other on trees of the chestnut, and the pistils are evidently 



