432 HABITS OF INSECTS. CHAP. XL 



rhinum majus one or two holes had been made on the 

 lower side, close to the little protuberance which re- 

 presents the nectary, and therefore directly in front of 

 and close to the spot where the nectar is secreted. 



But the most remarkable case of skill and judgment 

 known to me, is that of the perforation of the flowers of 

 Lathyrus sylvestris, as described by my son Francis.* 

 The nectar in this plant is enclosed within a tube, 

 formed by the united stamens, which surround the 

 pistil so closely that a bee is forced to insert its 

 proboscis outside the tube ; but two natural rounded 

 passages or orifices are left in the tube near the base, 

 in order that the nectar may be reached by the bees. 

 Now my son found in sixteen out of twenty-four flowers 

 on this plant, and in eleven out of sixteen of those on 

 the cultivated everlasting pea, which is either a variety 

 of the same species or a closely allied one, that the 

 left passage was larger than the right one. And here 

 comes the remarkable point, the humble-bees bite holes 

 through the standard-petal, and they always operated 

 on the left side over the passage, which is generally 

 the larger of the two. My son remarks : " It is difficult 

 to say how the bees could have acquired this habit. 

 Whether they discovered the inequality in the size of 

 the nectar-holes in sucking the flowers in the proper 

 way, and then utilised this knowledge in determining 

 where to gnaw the hole ; or whether they found out 

 the best situation by biting through the standard at 

 various points, and afterwards remembered its situation 

 in visiting other flowers. But in either case they show a 

 remarkable power of making use of what they have 

 learnt by experience." It seems probable that bees 

 owe their skill in biting holes through flowers of all 



* Nature,' Jan. 8, 1874, p. J80. 



