THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



spinosa), and some species of Eucalyptus, a honey-bee may ob- 

 tain a load from 2 or 3, or even 1 flower. 



Bees in collecting pollen and nectar are faithful as a rule to 

 a single species of flower — they exhibit "flower fidelity." This 

 is for their advantage since, if they were constantly passing 

 from flowers of one form to those of another, much time would 

 be lost in locating the nectar. At the same time the flowers 

 are cross-pollinated and a waste of pollen is prevented. Even 

 whole colonies may be true to a single species. At Ventura, 

 CaL, in 1884, 1 colony out of 200 gathered exclusively from 

 an abundance of mustard-bloom, while 199 gathered from the 

 sages. 



But where there are several differently colored varieties of 

 the same species, honey-bees soon learn to visit them indis- 

 criminately. Zinnia elegans displays white, yellow, red, and 

 purple varieties; Dahlia variabilis white, yellow, orange, red, 

 and purple; and Centaurea Cyanus (bachelor's-button) red, 

 white, blue, and purple. Bees pass freely, in visiting these 

 flowers, from one color to another. It is obvious that the 

 varieties differ in color alone, and are alike in form, odor, and 

 nectar. Under these conditions bees quickly learn that it is for 

 their advantage to ignore differences in hue. 



But the flowers of many closely allied species are so similar 

 that they puzzle even the highest authorities in taxonomy; 

 and Asa Gray writes in one of his letters that the asters threat- 

 ened to reduce him to blank despair. In such cases honey-bees 

 cease to adhere strictly to a single species, and visit indiscrim- 

 inately the different kinds of buttercups, spirseas, and golden- 

 rods. I have also often seen bumblebees pass from one species 

 of goldenrod to another, and even back and forth between 

 goldenrods and asters. Occasionally I have seen them pass 

 between very different forms of flowers, as from the sunflower 



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