438 



Among the apetalous families, which 

 number 384 species, there are no blue flow- 

 ers. The flowers are mostly small, and have 

 probably degenerated. In the heath, huck- 

 leberry, and primrose families; in the mus- 

 tard, saxifrage, rose, mallow, St. John's- 

 wort, evening primrose, cornel, and (with 

 three exceptions) the carrot, and many 

 other families, there are no blue flowers. 



It is in the gentian, borage, verbena, 

 mint, nightshade, figwort, and bell-flower 

 families that blue flowers reach their max- 

 imum. All of these families are of com- 

 paratively recent origin, and they contain 

 nearly 400 blue-purple and blue flowers. 

 In the mint and fig-wort families, flowers 

 of these colors are very numerous, and are 

 often dotted, striped, or maculated with 

 wliite, yellow, and red. We have here the 

 culmination of color display among flow- 

 ering plants. 



These flowers possess very singular 

 forms, as in the skullcap, monkey-flower, 

 and snapdragon ; and the nectar is so deep- 

 ly and carefully concealed that few insects 

 besides the long-tongued bees can obtain it. 

 In some instances a single species of flower 

 is visited by a single kind of bee, as one of 

 the larkspurs by one of the bumblebees. 

 In general, all blue flowers are bee flowers. 

 But not all bee flowers have bizarre or gi'o- 

 tesque forms. The gentian family contains 

 16 regular flowers, which are blue and like- 

 wise adapted to bees. In the Alps the gen- 

 tians are very abundant, and display vivid 

 masses of blue coloring. Huxley, while seek- 

 ing health in the bracing air of these moun- 

 tains, found gTeat pleasure in studying these 

 flowers, to an account of which his last pa- 

 per was devoted. The intensity of their 

 blue has been well described by Bryant in 

 his lines to a fringed gentian: 



Blue, blue, as if the sky let fall 

 A flower from its coerulean wall. 



A generation ago Sir John Lubbock 

 (Lord Avebury) published an account of 

 some experiments he had made, and assert- 

 ed that they proved that honeybees prefer 

 blue to any other color. This statement was 

 universally accepted and everywhere pub- 

 lished. Hermann MuUer also made many 

 similar experiments, and came to the con- 

 clusion that honeybees prefer blue to red, 

 and red to yellow or white. According to 

 these observers, blue flowers have been de- 

 veloped in response to this preference of 

 bees; but why they prefer this hue they 

 have never attempted to explain. Their se- 

 lective influence had developed blue-colored 

 blossoms, it was believed, in a gi-eat variety 

 of families. On the other hand, a blue 

 flower, other things being equal, is more 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



likely to attract bees than any other hue. 

 But later naturalists are inclined to be more 

 skeiDtical. Cowan, in his well-known book 

 on the honeybee, says that Lubbock's ex- 

 periments are not at all conclusive; and 

 after carefully reading the original descrip- 

 tions I quite agree with him. Plateau de- 

 clares that MuUer was misled by a too vivid 

 imagination ; and that not only do honey- 

 bees exhibit no preference for blue, but they 

 can not even distinguish between colors. 

 In tliis latter assertion Plateau was mistak- 

 en, as I am showing in a series of articles 

 in the American Naturalist. Bees easily 

 distinguish between different hues; but 

 whetlier they are more strongly influenced 

 by blue than any other color I do not as yet 

 know. I certainly do not think that it af- 

 fords them an esthetic pleasure. 



If, then, blue coloring has not been de- 

 veloped in response to the esthetic sense 

 of bees, can we account for its appearance 

 in any other way? Let us make the at- 

 tempt. Simple, wheel-shaped flowers, which 

 have the nectar fully exposed, are usually 

 white or yellow, and are visited by a great 

 variety of insects. The buttercups, water- 

 plantains, five-fingers, and many genera in 

 the mustard, saxifrage, and carrot family 

 are familiar examples. Insects often visit 

 indiscriminately these species, which still 

 retain the power of self-fertilization. 



On the other hand, genera adapted to 

 bees usually display a variety of colors, as 

 violet, blue, brown, red, yellow, and white, 

 especially when they bloom in the same lo- 

 cality and at the same time. Common ex- 

 amj^les are the aconites, sages, and clovers. 

 The nectar is more or less deeply concealed, 

 and the floral mechanisms are often intri- 

 cate. 



Honeybees in collecting nectar are faith- 

 ful, as a rule, to a single species of flower 

 — they exhibit "flower fidelity." Even when 

 the flowers are nearly alike in form and 

 color, tiie bee often shows a remarkable 

 power of discrimination. If all the flowers 

 blooming at the same time in a locality 

 were of the same color, it is evident that 

 bees could not distinguish between them as 

 readily as when there is a variety of colors 

 contrasting with each other. Numerous col- 

 or difference in bee-flowers are, therefore, 

 an advantage both to the bees and the 

 flowers; and this is the reason that they 

 have been evolved. There can be no doubt 

 that bees can distinguish between different 

 hues, and can make their visits more quick- 

 ly and easily -because of the contrasts of 

 flowers in coloration. In the development 

 of bee-flowers from primitive genera, red 

 and blue hues have appeared, not because 



