THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



are invariably made by birds or some other agency and are 

 subsequently used by the bees for sucking out the contents of 

 the fruit. Clusters of whole ripe grapes placed in hives among 

 starving bees remained untouched, but if they were pricked 

 with a pin their contents were at once extracted. Honey-bees, 

 however, do bore into soft, succulent tissue for sap. In the 

 common laburnum there is a round, fleshy swelling at the base 

 of the standard, which bees and butterflies pierce for the 

 abundant sap. There are several species of orchis (0. morio 

 and 0. maculata) which are nectarless and which Sprengel 

 called "sham-nectar producers." The inner membrane of the 

 floral tube is a very delicate structure and beneath it there is 

 a copious supply of fluid. Mueller saw a honey-bee pierce 

 this tissue a number of times. Bees also probe with the points 

 of their maxillae pollen-flowers like the Anemone. Moths and 

 butterflies are also able to puncture plant-tissues to some extent. 

 Darwin tells of a moth in Queensland, Australia, which with 

 its wonderful proboscis can bore through the thick rind of an 

 orange. At the Cape of Good Hope both moths and butter- 

 flies are said to do much injury to peaches and plums by punc- 

 turing the unbroken skins. 



Bumblebees are known to bite holes in more than 300 species 

 of flowers and rob them of nectar. Several of these often fail 

 to produce seed. A few of the more common forms robbed by 

 bees, besides those already mentioned, are red clover, locust, 

 Dicentra, Corydalis, dead-nettle, larkspur, aconite, and vetch. 

 Wasps have also been observed to bite holes in flowers. 



Bees are frequently described as roaming about among flowers 

 leading a joyous, care-free existence; but they often meet a 

 terrible fate and are seized by a monster as remorseless as the 

 fabled Scylla of ancient mythology. The Thomisidoe, or crab- 

 spiders, have acquired the habit of living among flowers for the 



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