BUMBLEBEE-FLOWERS 



fectly regular, to which it may occasionally revert. The colum- 

 bine sometimes produces five flat, instead of five spurred petals, 

 and there is a stellate form in cultivation. Even the larkspurs 

 and monk's-hoods may become perfectly regular. A regular 

 form of the snapdragon was cultivated at one time and called 

 "the wonder." Darwin crossed the regular forms with their 

 own pollen and raised a whole bed of similar flowers. In 

 Linaria, or butter-and-eggs, reversion to a radiate form often 

 occurs in many species. Even the grotesque orchids untwist 

 themselves and display regular star-shaped flowers, which is 

 the normal form in Dendrobium normale. Any unsymmetrical 

 flower may at times become symmetrical, that is, in the history 

 of the evolution of flowers radiate, or star-shaped, flowers are 

 more primitive than one-sided or bisymmetrical flowers. 



Notwithstanding the industry and immense numbers of the 

 honey-bee, there are no flowers adapted to this species alone. 

 It is impossible not to inquire why there should be bumblebee- 

 flowers, but no honey-bee flowers. Should we not rather 

 expect the reverse? But on inquiry into the economy of the 

 honey-bee the reason is evident enough. The domestic bee 

 requires large quantities of stores, and in order to obtain them 

 it must visit a great variety of flowers throughout the entire 

 season. For this purpose a tongue of medium length is far 

 more useful than a longer one. If the tongue is very long the 

 nectar in open, wheel-shaped flowers like the strawberry and 

 basswood can be sucked up only with difficulty and delay. 

 To be sure, they would be able to obtain some nectar now in- 

 accessible, as from bumblebee-flowers like the red clover, or 

 from moth-flowers like the climbing honeysuckle, but this 

 would not compensate for the disadvantages sustained. If a 

 longer tongue would have been beneficial to the honey-bee. 

 Nature would have long since developed One. Apiarists can- 



87 



