POLLENIZATION 77 



mass sticks to the bee's back which, startled, backs 

 out and rubs off a sort of cap on the pollen mass, 

 leaving it exposed. As hunger is the driving force in 

 insects as it is in humanity, the bee, after regaining 

 its composure, hunts another blossom of the same 

 kind and crawls into one that has perhaps already 

 discharged its pollen and has now a similar opening, 

 so this mass still sticking on the bee's back is rubbed 

 off where it will do the most good. You can duplicate 

 the bee with your pencil, spring the trap and find the 

 mass as large as the rubber on the pencil end stick- 

 ing to it, or if you hold the pencil at an angle, the 

 mass will be shot ten feet or more. 



The percentage of successful pollenization in flow- 

 ers seems very small, but it must be remembered 

 that the flower through the ages has, by the survival 

 of the fittest, developed these devices by which in 

 nature it is able to maintain the balance of life. The 

 flower will neither crowd itself out nor become ex- 

 tinct. Also, some special insect has through that 

 same period of time adapted its life to that special 

 flower, getting its livelihood from it, which is well 

 illustrated in the White Smyrna Fig. It was imported 

 into our country where the figs did not mature. The 

 tiny blossoms inside the fig were not pollenated, so 

 as a fig it was useless. Careful research found what 

 was lacking and from Smyrna the insect was im- 



