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AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE. 



Darwin on "Self-fertilisation of Plants"' says: — "Not only do 

 the bright colours of flowers serve to attract insects, but dark- 

 coloured streaks and marks are often present, which Sprengel long 

 ago maintained served as guides to the nectary." If such be the 

 case, how the poor bees must be troubled to find the nectary in self- 

 coloured flowers. I think we have more unicolour flowers than 

 striped ones. If Sprengel maintained it was so long ago, then it 

 may have been so; but I maintain, that now in these latter days 

 it is not so. 



Grant Allen, in "The Story of the Plant," has written some 

 fanciful pictures on the influence of the markings and colours of 

 flowers and their attraction for bees. I know the work is not a 

 text book. He says: — "The lines or spots so often found on the 

 petals of highly-developed flowers act as honey guides to lead the 

 bee or other fertilising insect direct to the nectar." He then goes 

 on to describe the "so-called nasturtium." "The upper pair (of 

 petals) are broad and deep-lined with dark veins, which all con- 

 verge about the month of the spur, and so show the inquiring 

 insect exactly where to go in search of honey. The lower three on 

 the other hand, have no lines or markings, but possess a curious 

 sort of fence running right across the face, intended to prevent 

 other flying insects from alighting and rifling the flower without 

 fertilising it. " Now, if any insect, flying, creeping, or crawling, 

 were to enter the nasturtium and rifle the flower of its pollen and 

 carry it to one where the stigma was receptive, and the part of the 

 insect's body with pollen on it came in contact with the stigma, 

 fertilisation would be the result. But why do the markings that 

 converge about the throat of any act as guide-posts to them, while 

 we have so many unicolour flowers that are destitute of such mark- 

 ings — to wit, the whole of the pumpkin family, and hundreds of 

 others. Pumpkins, &c., cannot be fertilised other than by insects, 

 and the blooms have no finger-post erected saying, "Here you can 

 get good honey and pollen !"' 



Yesterday I was watching the bees working the pumpkin flow- 

 ers, and none of them were at a loss to find the pollen or the nec- 

 tary. There was no hesitancy. The only finger-post for bees in 

 flowers is the food they contain. 



Darwin himself says he is not quite sure that in every case the 

 colour and markings of flowers are for the sole purpose of attracting 

 insects. 



