10 ON FLOWERS AND INSECTS. [LECT. 



thus interfere with its access to the stigma. Again, 

 in these plants the pollen is less adherent, so that it can 

 easily be blown away by the wind, which would be a dis- 

 advantage in most plants which are fertilised by insects. 



Again, such flowers generally have the stigma more 

 or less branched or hairy, which evidently must tend to 

 increase their chances of catching the pollen. 



Moreover, as Mr. Darwin has observed (Jour. Linn. Soc. 

 vol. viii. p. 176), there does not appear to be a single 

 instance of an irregular flower which is not fertilised by 

 insects or birds. 



The evidence derivable from the relations of bees and 

 flowers is probably sufficient to satisfy most minds that 

 bees are capable of distinguishing colors, but the fact 

 had not been proved by any conclusive experiments. I 

 therefore tried the following. If you bring a bee to 

 some honey, she feeds quietly, goes back to the hive, 

 stores away her honey, and returns with or without 

 companions for another supply. Each visit occupies 

 about six minutes, so that there are about ten in an 

 hour, and about a hundred in a day. I may add that in 

 this respect the habits of wasps are very similar, and that 

 they appear to be quite as industrious as bees. Perhaps 

 I may give the record of a morning's work of one of 

 my wasps. 1 She came to the honey at 6.16 A.M., fed and 

 returned to the nest at 6.19. 



Came again at 6.29, and returned at 6.32 

 6.41 6.44 



6.55 7 



7.11 7.15 



7.23 7.26 



1 In her case the intervals were rather longer than usual. 



