PREFACE 



much of his time the field naturalist must be content with the 

 companionship of Nature. 



"The flower that on the lonely hillside grows 

 Expects me there when Spring its bloom has given; 

 And many a tree and bush my wandering knows." 



The most important of insect pollinators is the honey-bee, 

 and in order to become familiar with its economy I long since 

 became a practical bee-keeper. Thus I have been able to ap- i 

 proach the science of flower ecology from three different points 

 of vantage. It will be evident in the following pages that the 

 botanist, entomologist, or apiarist, who studies only one phase 

 of this subject must necessarily obtain only a partial and im- 

 perfect view. 



As a result of the supercritical spirit which has been abroad 

 in the scientific world during the past generation most of the 

 older biological theories have been called in question, and 

 many new and bizarre suppositions have been advanced. The 

 experience of the author has convinced him of the efficacy of 

 natural selection in the evolution of flowers, of the advantages 

 of cross-fertilization, and of the inheritance of acquired char- 

 acters. In the absence of insect visits there is no satisfactory 

 evidence that conspicuous flowers and their adaptations would 

 ever have been developed. So highly improbable and quixotic 

 are some of these new theories that biologists should not forget 

 that common sense is an important factor in the interpretation 

 of nature. Let us not mistake for giants what in reality are 

 only windmills. 



While technical terms have been avoided, great care has been 

 taken to secure accuracy of statement. Such difficulties as 

 occur, it is believed, will prove stimulating rather than dis- 

 couraging. Most of the photographs are natural size, except 



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