FLOWKRS AND THEIR WORK 



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parts of the bee are complex. The parts consist of a pair of very small 

 jaws or mandibles, i-erfain other structures, maxillce, part of the lower lip 

 called the Initial /mips, and 

 a lonj^ toiiiruelike structure 

 called the lit/ulu. Tin- OMi 

 of the mouth parts may In- 

 made out by watching a bee 

 on a well-opened flower. 



A liuiiunintx l>ird just ulnmt 

 a flower. 



iIliiKitr 



Other Flower Visitors. 1 - 

 <)ther inserts besides the 

 bee arc pollen earners for 

 flowers. Among the most 

 UM-fiil are moths and but- 

 terflies. Both insects feed 

 only on nectar, which they 

 suck through a long tube- 

 like proboscis. The heads and bodies of these insects are more or 

 less thickly covered with hairs, and the wings are thatched with 

 hairlike, tiny scales. All these structures are of use to the flower 



because they collect and 

 carry pollen. Projecting 

 from each side of the head 

 of a butterfly is a fluffy 

 structure, the palp. This 

 collects and carries a large 

 amount of pollen, which is 

 deposited upon the stig- 

 mas of other flowers when 

 the butterfly pushes its 

 head down into the flower 

 tube after nectar. 



The common swallow-tailed butterfly on clover. 

 Bumblebees usually are the agents which 

 cross-pollinate this flower. 



Flies and some other insects are agents in cross-pollination. 

 Humming birds are also active agents in some flowers. Snails 

 are said in rare instances to carry pollen. Man and the domesti- 

 cated animals undoubtedly frequently pollinate flowers by brush- 

 ing past them through the fields. 



1 If the study of other insects is taken up in the fall in connection with the flower, 

 the student should be referred to parts of Chapters XX and XXI and to the Lab- 

 oratory Manual. 



