PERFECT FLOWERS 75 



cover the reason; for we shall doubtless see a bee 

 approach, pay his first call upon the flower lowest 

 in the spire, and then, winding upward as if he 

 were climbing a spiral stair, visit all the flowers in 

 the order of their opening. Thus, if he has brought 

 pollen from elsewhere, he will be sure to leave it 

 on the lower stigmas, ripe and ready to receive it, 

 and he will depart well powdered with pollen from 

 the upper flowers newly blown. And we shall see 

 the bee fly to another spire of flowers of the same 

 variety, for such is his instinct and habit, and there 

 again he will begin at the lowest flower, and con- 

 tinue as before, doing the day's work that he has 

 planned for himself, but, incidentally, and all un- 

 consciously, carrying pollen from flower to flower, 

 and helping to create other flowers for other bees 

 to visit another summer day. We have already 

 remarked that the wasps pay their visits in the 

 reverse order, and that their favourite flowers re- 

 verse the order of blooming, likewise. 



I wish the reader to consider the marvellous man- 

 ner in which the flower has arranged its own habits 

 to conform to the tastes and customs of its most 

 welcome and cherished guest. Each single flower 

 does its best to please, by assuming the most at- 

 tractive colour, putting out a convenient landing- 

 stage, breathing forth the most alluring perfume, 



