THE CLOVER FAMILY 



it to get a large supply of honey in a short time 

 with very little work. Even in the convenient 

 racemes of blossoms the bee must move from one 

 flower to another, but in these closely-arranged 

 heads, it may thrust its proboscis into flower after 

 flower with the sHghtest change of position ; 

 while, conversely, this keen appreciation of the 

 bee results in the clover getting nearly all its 

 stigmas pollinated, and so, by the law of heredity, 

 the plants are enabled further to evolve in their 

 offspring their specialised features. 



The familiar white or Dutch clover may be 

 found in almost any field or piece of waste ground 

 or even at the edges of the dusty roadside, and it 

 is curious to observe how the plant assists (uncon- 

 sciously) its insect guests. I have endeavoured to 

 show this in Fig. 92 (Plate 66) y where first a newly- 

 opened head of bloom is seen. In the second 

 example a head is shown that has been visited by 

 the bee, and all the flowers that were then mature 

 and received its attentions have, it will be observed, 

 turned down out of the way towards the stem. 

 Later, most of the remaining flowers receive a 

 visit, and in the third example all excepting some 

 two or three are seen bending their httle stalks 

 towards the stem. Even the youngest central 

 flowers are not neglected as they ripen, and the 

 fourth example shows one unfertilised blossom left 

 alone endeavouring to attract, with its tiny petals, 

 the eye of some busy bee ; eventually its turn 

 comes, and it also turns downwards to join the 

 other members of the head, as in the last example. 



155 



