THE SECRET OF FLOWERS 



Loew, of Berlin. An excellent translation by J. Ainsworth 

 Davis of the first and second volumes has appeared. 



To-day there are very few investigators engaged in studying 

 the life histories of flowers. In North America they number 

 less than half a dozen. Most observers are content to restrict 

 their attention to the botanical side of the subject, and ignore 

 the great company of pollinators. Even Charles Darwin and 

 Anton Kerner, whose writings still remain an ever-inspiring 

 source of information, gave little heed to the ways of the insect 

 guests. The reason for this is not far to seek. To collect 

 and prepare lists of the visitors, and to observe their behavior, 

 requires so enormous an amount of time, labor, and patience 

 that the opportunity is possible to very few people. Suppose 

 that a flower is in bloom for two weeks, then, on every calm, 

 bright day many hours must be devoted to the work, for the 

 guests at the beginning of blooming-time may differ from those 

 at its close. There follows the almost insuperable task, at 

 least in America, of determining the names of the captured 

 insects. With the exception of the butterflies we have no 

 manuals of the different orders, and the literature is in a truly 

 chaotic condition, many papers not being obtainable at any 

 price. It is noteworthy that each of the three or four more 

 prominent investigators of floroecology in America has been 

 compelled to work up the classification of the bees in his lo- 

 cality — a rather formidable undertaking in itself. So closely 

 allied are the species and genera that no one can distinguish 

 between them without a special knowledge of the group, which 

 in its relations to flowers exceeds all others in importance. 



But the value of an acquaintance with the insect visitors 

 cannot easily be overestimated; for some species fly only in 

 the spring, others only in the fall; some species visit only 

 one kind of flower, others many kinds; some are most welcome 



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