426 HABITS OF INSECTS Chap. XL 



labour of other species. Memory also comes into play, 

 for, as already remarked, bees know the position of 

 each clump of flowers in a garden. I have repeatedly 

 seen them passing round a corner, but otherwise in as 

 straight a line as possible, from one plant of Fraxinella 

 and of Linaria to another and distant one of the same 

 species ; although, owing to the intervention of other 

 plants, the two were not in sight of each other. 



It would appear that either the taste or the odour of 

 the nectar of certain flowers is unattractive to hive or to 

 humble-bees, or to both ; for there seems no other reason 

 why certain open flowers which secrete nectar are not 

 visited by them. The small quantity of nectar secreted 

 by some of these flowers can hardly be the cause of 

 their neglect, as hive-bees search eagerly for the minute 

 drops on the glands on the leaves of the Primus lauro- 

 cerasus. Even the bees from different hives sometimes 

 visit different kinds of flowers, as is said to be the case 

 by Mr. Grant with respect to the Polyanthus and Viola 

 tricolor* I have known humble-bees to visit the flowers 

 of Lohelia fulgens in one garden and not in another at 

 the distance of only a few miles. The cupful of nectar 

 in the labellum of Epvpactis latifolia is never touched 

 by hive- or humJble-bees, although I have seen them 

 flying close by ; and yet the nectar has a pleasant 

 taste to us, and is habitually consumed by the common 

 wasp. As far as I have seen, wasps seek for nectar in 

 this country only from the flowers of this Epipactis, 

 Scrophularia aquatica, Hedera helix, Symphoricarpus 

 racemosa,\ and Tritoma ; the three former plants being 

 endemic, and the two latter exotic. As wasps are so 



* ' Gard. Chron.' 1844, p. 374. three plants are alone visited by 



t The same fact apparently wasps : ' Nettarit Estranuziali, 



holds good in Italy, for Delpino Bullettino Entomologico,' anno vi 



Bays that the flowers of these 



