CHAPTER IV 



BEES AS BUILDERS OF FLOWERS 



AS pollinators of flowers, the bees, or Anthophila (flower- 

 /-% lovers) far surpass all other insects in importance. In 

 their adaptations for collecting pollen and nectar, in 

 diligence, and in mental attributes, bees stand easily in the 

 first rank. To them more than to any other insects is due the 

 evolution of our flora. Unlike all other flower-visitors they 

 collect pollen, and it is this habit which has gained them their 

 pre-eminence in the floral world. The beetles, flies, and butter- 

 flies take no thought for their young except to select a suitable 

 place in which to lay their eggs. The solitary wasps provision 

 their nests with flies, spiders, beetles, and other insects, which 

 by stinging they have left paralyzed and helpless or dead; 

 while the social wasps go a step further and masticate their 

 prey before feeding it to their young. But bees are the only 

 insects which feed their offspring with pollen; they are thus 

 wholly dependent upon flowers, both for food for themselves 

 and their brood. 



As the result of this interdependence of bees and flowers, 

 united with the industry and mental acuteness of the former, 

 there has been developed a great company of bright-colored 

 blossoms, which are especially adapted to their visits, and are, 

 in consequence, called "bee-flowers." They agree in having 

 the nectar deeply concealed, where it is inaccessible to ants 

 and other pillagers. They are often irregular in form, as in 

 the pea, bean, and snapdragon. The object, so far as it is not 

 an incidental result, of these odd and sometimes bizarre forms 



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