GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



General Correspondence 



THE SECRET OF THE FLOWERS 



BY P. F. X. RYAN 



The glorious diadems which are studded 

 so bountifully over Nature's beautiful ves- 

 ture have always possessed a peculiar 

 charm for me; and greatly, therefore, did 

 I welcome Mr. J. H. LovelFs learned effort 

 to penetrate the hidden meaning of these 

 mysterious gems of Nature, and to ascribe 

 to them some significance, real, not fanci- 

 ful, as is the case with the conventional 

 "language" so dear to lovers. My object 

 in writing is to offer a friendly criticism 

 of a few points on which "I have my 

 doubts," and I am confident that Mr. Lovell 

 will rejoice to find some one ready to use 

 the pruning-knife of friendly criticism on 

 his work, and, if need be, to write fur- 

 ther to elucidate such hiatters as may be 

 doubtful or otherwise called in question. It 

 is far from my intention to brandish the 

 battle-ax of censure ; and if I appear to do 

 so, I pray he will forgive. 



Referring to page 21, Jan. 1, it seems 

 to me Gray was well within the mark in 

 his assertion that 



Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, 

 And waste its sweetness on the desert air; 



for, as far as we can judge, in many in- 

 stances all their glory is bootless, for there 

 are "full many" which are self -pollinating, 

 and even inaccessible to insects. They can 

 not, therefore, take cover under the cloak 

 of usefulness to insects as a raison d'etre 

 for their beauty and sweetness. They are, 

 then, so to speak, "wasted on the desert 

 air," though, of course, they proclaim the 

 glory of the king who, clad himself in 

 golden raiment, transmits a shimmering 

 luster to Nature's habiliments. 



However much Sprengel's opinion (page 

 22), that the bright hues of flowers serve 

 as signboards to nectar-loving insects, may 

 have gained ground, I must confess that I 

 am personally somewhat skeptical; for I 

 find the theory (and it is at most only a 

 theory) confronted by many ugly facts. 

 Nothing is more unscientific, and to me 

 nothing is more distasteful, than to see 

 scientific men making hasty generalizations, 

 or parading scientific hypotheses in the 

 garb of facts. Lubbock makes an asser- 

 tion similar to Sprengel's, that the very 

 arrangement of the colors, the circular 

 bands and radiating lines, are all with 

 i-eference to the visits of insects. Why, 

 llien, I ask, is the apple-blossom painted 

 on the back and not on the front? Here, 

 surely, is an instance of the complete un- 



satisfaetoriness of their contention, for the 

 color of the outside is just about as useful 

 an indication to the insects of the location 

 of the nectar as a book's cover is to the 

 scientist in quest of an article on paleon- 

 tology in a work on evolution. 



Let us take the ease of wild flowers. Mr. 

 Grant Allen, whose views in many ways 

 seem to coincide with those of Mr. Lovell, 

 points out that the irregular flowers are 

 variegated, while regular forms have al- 

 most always a marked uniformity. If the 

 insects were in need of a clue to aid them 

 in their search for nectar, surely this clue 

 would be more needful in regular form. 

 But, as I have said, the variegations are 

 in the irregular forms. 



In i^inks the color-bands run transversely 

 to the course of honey-seekers, so that, if 

 these finger-posts are trusted to, they play 

 the poor little insects false, which is not 

 in accordance with the habitual workings 

 of kind Nature. 



In the milkwort (Polygula) the se23als 

 are the conspicuous jjarit, and their veins 

 are as clearly defined as many other petals; 

 but the color indication leads just to where 

 the honey is not; so it is evident that the 

 weary insect in quest of nectar would be 

 as badly fooled, if he trusted in these 

 unreliable advertisements, as the weary 

 traveler who, on seeing in the advertise- 

 ments of a well-known hostlery every in- 

 dication of the "home when from home" 

 which he desires, and repairs thereto, only 

 to find a magnificent bar. For bed and 

 board he must apply elsewhere. I tried 

 to enter on a studj^ of the problem which 

 Mr. Lovell treats so exhaustively, with a 

 mind free from bias, and now make the 

 candid admission that I have concluded 

 my investigations by entertaining a learned 

 doubt on the matter, pending the fram- 

 ing of a hypothesis which will give a more 

 intelligent explanation of observed facts. 



Having thus controverted Sprengel's 

 major proposition, that the lines, dots, etc^, 

 serve as finger-posts in all cases, I reject 

 his inference that the general color of the 

 corolla advertises to insects, even when 

 afar off, the presence of the desired nee- 

 tar. I have known many instances of in- 

 sects visiting fioAvers which secrete no honey 

 at all. Are they the victims of a kind of 

 confidence trick? If the color does all 

 that is claimed for it, why have they not 

 become acquainted with the meaning of the 

 label, and why do they not refrain from 

 wasting time in long tours of inspection 

 which in every case prove to be fruitless? 



