Packaud] insects or THE FIELD. 199 



kinds of plants would never have been brought into exis- 

 tence at all had it not been through the modifying influence 

 of bees and moths. The interdependence of insects and 

 plants latel}' shown to exist b}^ various observers is one of 

 the most striking in nature. Many gardeners are aware 

 that bees aid greatly in the fertilization of the flowers of the 

 melon, cucumber and squash by conveying the pollen of one 

 flower to another and to those of adjoining gardens. This 

 ensures the production of fruit, where otherwise many a 

 flower would be barren. It is known that a larger crop of 

 apples is raised when a hive of bees is stationed in the or- 

 chard. The bees visit every flower, busily flying from one 

 to another, and then passing to an adjoining tree. Their 

 bodies dusted over with the pollen rub against the pistils of 

 hundreds of flowers, which thus become fertilized. In the 

 same manner the moths, bobbing their heads into the tubu- 

 lar flowers of the orchids and other plants, probe them with 

 their long tongues, and Avithdraw them with a packet of pol- 

 len attached, which they leave on the pistil of some other 

 plant. In this way the plant maintains its existence ; and 

 there is no deterioration in the stock, since the pollen is 

 conveyed from plants afar off by the bees, and too close 

 in-and-in breeding, a thing nature abhors, is prevented. 

 Now this sort of work is going on far more extensively than 

 was suspected before Mr. Darwin called the attention of 

 naturalists to the matter. It seems, from the studies of 

 Sprengel, Darwin, Hermann Miillor, and others, that on the 

 other hand many of the strange modifications in the form 

 of flowers are due to insects. Not only are clianges in form 

 produced by the different kinds of insects and their varying 

 mouth-parts, but it has been boldly suggested* that origin- 

 ally the scent and color and even the honey of flowers are 

 due to the influence of insects. On the other hand any one 



♦ " On Britisli Wild Flowers considered in Relation to Insects." By Sir John 

 Lubbock. MacmUlan & Co. 1875. 



