Foxglove and Toadflax 243 
lowest on the spike, and in turn visiting all those that 
are open. ‘These bees are not mere gad-abouts, intent 
solely upon refreshments; they are the supervising 
genil who look after the best interests of the Foxglove 
what time they are gathering pollen for their family 
and a little nectar for themselves. Humble-bees of 
several species have had much to do with the mould- 
ing of the Foxglove’s flower, and all its internal 
arrangements have reference to their visits. No 
other creature can now perform the offices they serve, 
so that the least the flower can do is to keep a little 
store of nectar for them in a suitable and not too 
accessible place. 
Here comes another great fellow, buzzing in a tone 
that appears to denote good humour. Watch him. 
He commences at the lowest flower in a spike, crawls 
right in, and disappears from view. He is out again 
in a few seconds, and instead of flying off to another 
plant, enters the flower next above it on the same 
stem, and so on right up the spike, until he reaches 
the unopened flowers. Then he booms off again, and 
commences another spike a little farther on, proceed- 
ing again from the lowest to the highest. 
To know exactly what he is about, we must open 
two or three of these flowers. As they hang one 
above the other, we note that the side nearest the 
stem is longer than the upper side, and its central 
lobe affords a convenient alighting-platform for the 
bee. It is dotted with conventional “eye-spots,’ and 
furnished with long erect hairs. Having observed 
so much, we have no further need for this half of the 
flower; we therefore slice it off, and this reveals to us 
the inside of the upper half together with all the 
