Iplant ipartnerebips 123 



another flower of that same kind, not to one of an- 

 other family. The}^ seem to have a rooted aversion to 

 mixing their food or their honey cargo. From clover 

 to clover, from pea to pea, from gladiolus to gladi- 

 olus, that is the bees' style of doing business. 



On these hot July days, when the sun draws out 

 the richest fragrance and lights up the most brilliant 

 colors, watch the bees and the butterflies. The bee 

 seeks clover on one trip, mignonette on another, 

 lilies on a third. The butterflies have no hive re- 

 turnings to mark their work, but you can count their 

 visits, a dozen or more to flowers of one kind before 

 they investigate the sweets of flowers of some other 

 kind. 



Corollas are generally so fashioned that the insect 

 does not receive the pollen promiscuously over his 

 body, but brushes it off the anthers at exactly that 

 place — proboscis, head, breast, shoulders — where it 

 will be exactly in the wa}^ of the stigmas of the next 

 flower of the same kind visited. 



Volumes have been written about the manner in 

 which the pollen grains clasp the antennse or pro- 

 boscis, or stick to the top of the head or the shoul- 

 ders of the insect guests. 



In spite of all these precautions an immense 

 amount of pollen is lost in one way or another, es- 

 pecially in wind-fertilized flowers. This loss can be 



