Pollination and Fertilization 



120 



gland where honey is made. At the entrance of the flower a 

 " rocking chair " is invitingly placed, made of the two swinging 

 stamens. One pollen chamber of each stamen has been sacri- 

 ficed to make the " seat " of the chair. As soon as the bee 

 touches this, the upper locules bend down and dust the bee's 

 back with pollen just along its hairy belt. The bee then passes 

 on to other sage blossoms. In some of these, stigmas which 

 are ready to be pollinated arch down far eiiough to be dusted 

 with the precious load. 



Holes cut in the tubes of flowers are evidence that a robbery 

 has been committed. The flower has been broken into and 



Fig. x^^.-Salvia^ I Corolla, the hood removed. II. Ditto with bee. (From 

 Henslow s "South African Flowering Plants.") 



pilfered of its honey without the insect performing any assist- 

 ance in conveying pollen. You can watch bumble-bees bite 

 holes in flowers which have tubes too long and narrow for the 

 bee to enter. Darwin tells us that honey-bees, which usually 

 pay down for each meal, are not above using the holes made 

 by bumble-bees the previous day. 



Once a beautiful red lily grew in a conservatory beside a 

 white one. Bees seldom find their way into a greenhouse, and 

 so the plants seldom set seed. But the gardener carefully 

 removed the pollen from the red lily and placed it on the 

 stigma of the white one. In due time seeds were formed. 

 When they were planted and a flower came they were white 

 beautifully marked with red. 



K 



