346 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



insects. So among the flies : most of the omnivorous families are dull 

 and ugly ; but several of the flower-haunting tribes are adorned with 

 brilliant colors, and live upon honey. In fact, an immense majority 

 of the brightest insects are honey-suckers, and seem to have derived 

 their taste for beautiful hues from the nature of the objects among 

 which they seek their food. 



There is one striking and obvious exception, however, which has 

 doubtless already suggested itself to the minds of readers. I mean 

 the bees. These are the most flower-loving of all insects, and yet 

 they are comparatively plain in their coloration. We must remem- 

 ber, however, that the peculiar nature of the commonwealth among 

 the social bees prevents the free action of the selective preference by 

 which we account for the brilliancy of all other flower-haunting species. 

 The queen or mother bee is a prisoner for life ; her Majesty's domestic 

 arrangements are all made for her by the state ; she does not herself 

 seek honey among flowers, and those bees which do so have no power 

 of transmitting their tastes to descendants, as they live and die mere 

 household drudges. On the other hand, the solitary bees are in many 

 cases exquisitely colored, as we might expect from their power of free 

 choice ; and one flower-haunting family of the same order, the Chrysi- 

 d(X, are aptly compared to the humming-birds in the richness of their 

 colorino^. 



One more peculiarity of great interest must also be noted. It ap- 

 pears that many insects have two sets of colors, seemingly for different 

 purposes ; the one set protective from the attacks of enemies, the other 

 set attractive to their own mates. Thus several butterflies have the 

 lower side of their wings colored like the leaves or bark on which they 

 rest, while the upper sides are rich with crimson, orange, and gold, 

 which gleam in the bright sunlight as they flit about among their 

 fellows. Butterflies, of course, fold their wings with the under side 

 outward. On the other hand, moths, which fold their wings in the 

 opposite manner, often have their upper surfaces imitative or protect- 

 ive, while the lower sides are bright and beautiful. One Malayan but- 

 terfly, the Kallima paralecta, has wings of purple and orange above, 

 but it exactly mimics dead foliage when its vans are folded ; and, as 

 it always rests among dry leaves, it can hardly be distinguished from 

 them, as it is even apparently spotted with small fungi. In these and 

 many other cases one can not help believing that, while imitative color- 

 ing has been acquired for protective purposes, the bright hues of the 

 concealed portion must be similarly useful to the insect as a personal 

 decoration. 



It would seem, then, that we owe half the loveliest objects in our 

 modern world to the insect color-sense. It is the bee and the butter- 

 fly which have given us the gorgeous orchids and massive creepers of 

 the tropics, the gentians and rhododendrons of the Alps, the camel- 

 lias and heathers of our conservatories, the may and primroses of our 



