136 A PHILOSOPHER WITH NATURE 



That there are not so many blue flowers as might 

 be expected is explained by the probability that all 

 plants with blue flowers are descended from ances- 

 tors with green flowers, which, under the influence 

 of what may be called bee-culture, have passed 

 through stages of white, yellow, and generally red 

 before becoming blue. 



Although the vision of bees is very good in some 

 respects, they show little intelligence in finding their 

 way in certain circumstances. Sir J. Lubbock 

 experimented with a bee which he put into a bell- 

 glass, turning the closed end to the light, only to 

 find that she generally buzzed about for a long time 

 in a vain endeavour to get out at the closed end, 

 while flies placed in the glass in the same way soon 

 made their escape. 



I have always found bees very stupid in this way. 

 Last summer I placed a nest of humble-bees in a 

 large glass vase, some fifteen inches in diameter, and 

 nine in height. I kept the nest in my room, and, 

 for several days after it was placed in position, the 

 workers crowded towards the side next the light, 

 making vain attempts all day long to get out, and 

 this although the top was quite open, and the surface 

 of the nest only a few inches below the rim of the 

 vase. It was some time before I noticed any of the 

 bees get out, other than by what could only have 

 been accident, although I watched the nest for some 

 hours daily. It could not be said that the change 

 in position of their home had unduly confused the 

 older bees, for those born while the nest was under 

 observation showed the same want of intelligence, 

 and up to the end of the season in the daytime a few 

 bees were always at the side of the glass next the 



