xlvi 



In the case of these Polistes (without diving too deeply into 

 their mysterious endowments in this respect) we may readily 

 conceive the rapturous excitement manifested by the new comer 

 from the lost domicile, as compared with the lassitude and 

 despondency exhibited by the lorn home-seekers ; nor can we err 

 in assuming that, after the customary greetings of recognition on 

 the deserted site, some conscious allurement must have been 

 imparted to the latter to induce them to confide in such cogent 

 invocation to follow the former; her object being attained as 

 though her motives had been enunciated by voice or language, and 

 her summons conveyed through such a medium. 



The fertilization of flowers by insects (treated in several 

 additional papers in ' Nature ' by Messrs. Hermann Miiller and 

 T. H. Farrer) has also been the subject of a verj'- remarkable 

 Address by Sir John Lubbock, before the British Association, at 

 Belfast, showing their mutual dependence upon each other, and 

 pointing out how the sustenance afforded to the latter is requited 

 by the transfer of pollen essential to the existence of the former, 

 w'hile calling attention to many structural peculiarities exhibited 

 on either side admirably adapted for this purpose. 



But in discussing the mouth-parts and legs among the bees and 

 wasps, upon which considerable stress is laid, as exemplifjdng 

 modifications of these parts from an ancestral type, it should not 

 be lost sight of, that such suitable adaptation of organs to the 

 requirements of the several races alluded to, is associated with 

 many characteristic distinctions in the veining of the wings, 

 coinciding with other relations of lineage and affinity, and 

 furnishing, together with the aforesaid organs, premonitory 

 indications of differences in habits and economy. 



"That the mouth of Prosopis" (one of the solitary bees) 

 " probably represents the condition of that of the ancestors of the 

 hive-bees before their mouth-parts underwent special modifica- 

 tions ; " and that this " ma}'^ be inferred from the fact that the 

 same type occurs in other allied groups, as shown in the mouth 

 of a wasp" (our "Polistes," to wit); is a deduction scarcely 

 reconcilable with those divergences in alary structure between 

 the respective groups, wLich are altogether independent of 

 functional development, and of those influences for adaptational 

 purposes which have been held to determine the survival of the 

 fittest. 



