CHAPTER XVIII 

 INTERRELATION OF BEES AND PLANTS 



HONEY-FLOWERS 



THE facts revealed by science are not always 

 beautiful, however interesting they may be. But 

 the discovery of the interrelation of flowers and 

 insects, that partnership which has existed so long 

 that it has modified both partners, seems to belong 

 to the realm of art or poetry rather than to that of 

 science. Since plants must needs spend their lives 

 where they are developed from seeds, they may not 

 roam abroad like animals to seek their mates. But 

 this is a difficulty which they readily overcome, 

 through sending their messages by the uneasy, 

 flying insects; and of all these messengers, the bee 

 is surely the flowers' favourite. Its fuzzy body, 

 admirably adapted to be a pollen brush, its swift 

 wings and its sedulous attention to business, all tend 

 to make it the most important of the flower-partners. 

 Thus, especially for the bee, have thousands of 

 flower species developed nectar, in pockets placed 

 cunningly to entice her to take upon herself a pollen 

 load. And for countless ages the flowers have 

 painted their petals various hues and shed on the 

 atmosphere their perfume, to advertise to the bee- 

 world that they had pollen and nectar to spare. 

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