INSECTS AND FLOWERS 211 



If we watch a bee at work amongst the Butter- 

 cups, we shall see that the insect almost invari- 

 ably alights upon the carpels in the very centre 

 of the blossom, and that as it seeks the honey 

 stored at the base of the petals, it turns round 

 gradually all over the carpels and stamens, 

 becoming dusted with the pollen from the latter 

 if the flower is in the male or first stage. So 

 long as the bee continues to visit flowers in 

 this stage, it will continue to collect pollen upon 

 its legs and body, without distributing any, for 

 the carpels are still unripe. Directly, however, 

 the bee ialights upon a buttercup flower that is 

 in the second or female stage of development, the 

 insect will part with some of the pollen it has 

 brought from some of the younger flowers pre- 

 viously visited ; for the carpels being ripe and the 

 sensitive surface of the stigmas sticky, the pollen 

 will readily adhere as the pollen-laden insect 

 moves over them. Now, the Bulbous Buttercup, 

 being short of stem, is very liable to the unwel- 

 come attentions of those indefatigable honey- 

 thieves, the ants. They are very unpopular guests, 

 being indiscriminate seekers after nectar, crawl- 

 ing up one stem after another in their search, 

 and not going from one flower to another of the 

 same sort, as is the habit with most of the flying 

 insects. Therefore, to protect the honey-glands 

 at the base of its petals from these undesirable 

 visitors, the calyx of the Bulbous Buttercup on 

 opening, turns down its sepals in such a way 

 against the stem as to form a most effectual 

 barrier to these creeping insects. 



The tube of the flower of the Maiden Pink 



