BEES IN KELATION TO FLOWEUS. 225 



perfume, are certainly a great source of pleasure from youth to old age, 

 it is a mistake to assume that such is the sole purpose of such beauty and 

 variety. The purpose of a plant is the same as the purpose of an animal, 

 namely, the perpetuation of the species and race and to that end the 

 whole of the plant is adapted. 



The usual mode of propagation in the case of flowering plants is by 

 seeds. Seeds are the result of the fertilization of the female cells of the 

 plant by the male cells. The former are 'called ovules and are generally 

 borne in one or more seed chambers bearing a sticky organ known as the 

 stigma. The male cells are the pollen grains which are developed in the 

 anthers borne on the stamens. Before the seed can develop, the ovule 

 must be fertilized by the male cell, and this is brought about, therefore, by 

 the transference of the pollen (the male cells) from the anthers to the 

 female organs, the stigma. The majority of plants have flowers bearing 

 both male and female organs, although some plants bear flowers of one 

 sex only. 



In view of these facts, which are necessarily very briefly stated, it will 

 be seen that, in the case of the majority of flowering plants, the perpetua- 

 tion of the species is dependent upon the transference of the pollen to 

 the stigma. It is to this end that plants have developed their great variety 

 of color, form and perfume. It may be asked in what way does all this 

 assist in the propagation of the species. Except in certain species, the 

 flowers cannot fertilize themselves even though both male and female 

 organs exist in the same flower. They have to call in the help of some 

 agent. That agent is most commonly an insect and, of all the insects, 

 the bees are the chief factors in the pollination of flowers. But bees will 

 not visit flowers merely for the pleasure of doing so. They must be at- 

 tracted and consequently they are enticed by the sweet nectar which the 

 flowers secrete in special organs. With this knowledge, how much more 

 interesting are all these things. The flowers flaunt their medley of colors 

 to summon the bees to hidden feasts of nectar; for the color is developed 

 to make the flower attractive. The attractive coloration of flowers re- 

 quiring the assistance of bees in cross-pollination may be compared to 

 the colored berries which attract the birds upon whose services such 

 plants are largely dependent for the distribution of their seeds. In enter- 

 ing or leaving the flower, the hairy body of the bee is brushed by the 

 anthers and powdered with the contained pollen which it carries to the 

 female stigma of another flower, thereby ensuring cross-fertilization 

 which increases the production of seed and the vigor of the resulting 

 plants. All this service the bee performs in return for the nectar and 

 surplus pollen which it carries away to store. Space will not permit a 

 consideration of the numerous and bewildering devices which flowers 

 adopt to attract the bees, to prevent their obtaining the nectar without 

 performing their duty of cross-pollination in return, to guide them to the 

 nectaries and to accommodate them while they are partaking of the 

 feast, all of which forms one of the most fascinating of studies. 



Briefly though they be given, the foregoing facts indicate the im- 

 portance and wide relationship which exists between flowers and bees. 

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