BARBERRY MANNERS 22/ 
barberry, whether with its " strings o' golden flow- 
ers " or its drooping clusters of brilliant scarlet 
acid berries. But each one of those berries is but 
a token of a bee's visit, as we shall presently see. 
At Fig. i I have shown a plan of the barberry 
blossom seen from below, its yellow sepals and 
petals open, and opposite each of the inner set, 
and pressed against it, a stamen. This stamen 
is shown below in three stages closed, part- 
ly open, and fully open the queer little ear- 
shaped lids finally drawn up, showing the pollen- 
pockets, and also withdrawing a portion of the 
pollen from the cavity. At the centre is seen 
the circular tip of the ovary which finally becomes 
the berry that is, when the little scheme here 
planned has been fulfilled. This circular form 
represents the tip of the ovary, and the little 
toothed rim the stigma. Now what is the inten- 
tion here expressed? This construction repre- 
sents a plan, first, to invite a bee this is done by 
its color, its fragrance, and its nectar, which is se- 
creted in a gland at the base of each petal, near 
the centre of the flower; secondly, to make that 
bee bear away the pollen ; thirdly, to cause that 
same bee to place this pollen on the stigma rim of 
the next flower he visits. In Fig. 2 we see how 
beautifully this plan is carried out by the insect, 
without his suspecting how perfectly he has been 
utilized. At A we see the same flower cut open 
