THE CONSTANCY OF THE BEE. 85 
The Constancy of the Bee. 
By Grorce W. Oro. 
[Read 29th December, 1896.] 




























In order to explain the development of plant species, extreme 
Darwinians have always laid great stress on the “ Constancy of 
the Bee,” and the bee-selection theory is, and has always been, one 
of the great pillars of the Law of Natural Selection. 
My attention was first drawn to this subject by a paper in 
Science Gossip, May, 1892, in which the author, Mr. G. W. Bulman, 
tried to show that “the curious habit of the Apide of visiting 
only one species of flower in a single excursion,” existed only in the 
minds of those who wrote about it. He gave detailed accounts of 
a great number of observations which formed a remarkable series. 
One of the bees which he watched changed 10 times in 27 visits, 
between the following plants :—Geraniwm Robertianum, Linn., G. 
lucidum, Linn., G. nemorum?, and G. sanguinewm, Linn. 
Mr. Bulman’s paper struck me very forcibly at the time, and 
I began to make observations, and have continued to do so at 
intervals during the last five seasons. During this time I have 
watched some hundreds of bees, and what I have observed seems 
only to confirm the experience of Mr. Bulman. Of the total 
number observed by me, only about 30 per cent. have proved incon- 
stant while they were under my eye, but the fact must be taken 
into consideration that I lost sight of the majority after they had 
paid one or two visits to flowers. In most cases, when I was able 
to follow the bee for any considerable time, I found that, sooner or 
later, a change was made. This, however, was not always the 
_ ease, and I have recorded several very interesting instances of 
_ constancy. One bee, which I watched for a long time on the 14th 
of June this year, confined itself entirely to the flowers of the 
_ Bugle, although there were numerous other flowers in the 
_ neighbourhood, including Stitchwort, Hyacinth, &c. Further- 
_ more, bees which are working Willow or Lime trees never seem 
_ to bother with other flowers, though, so far as I have been able to 
