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which blows the pollen from one flower to the next, but the prin- 

 cipal agents are insects and it is to the bee that the squash plant 

 owes its existence. 



At the bottom of the pistil within" the squash blossom there is a 

 tiny opening slightly larger than a pin hole, the only entrance to 

 the hidden honey-cup which lies below. 



Now, if we were to examine a honey-bee closely, it would be seen 

 that the legs of the insect are broadly constructed and thickly clothed 

 in a growth of powerful wiry hairs, while a short study of the mouth 

 parts would reveal a strong triple tongue, long and very flexible. 



When the insect crawls down into the blossom, it does not rush 

 madly about after the method of the beetle, for Nature has long 

 since taught the honey-bee the secret of finding the hidden nectar. 

 It requires but a second or two to locate the tiny door through which 

 it plunges its long tongue into the pure sweet honey. Meanwhile the 

 insect's motions have shaken the pollen from its fastenings above. 

 Down it comes in a yellow shower about the drinking bee. Some 

 of it sifts in among the hairs upon the insect's thighs and here it 

 clings until the next blossom is visited. Now some of it is bound to 

 be brushed off each time the busy bee crawls within a blossom. Thus 

 the pollens are blended and the flowers fertilized. In short, it is a 

 fair exchange between two different kingdoms ; the bee makes possible 

 the offspring of the plant and the plant gives the honey for the off- 

 spring of the bee! 



And now let us turn to the poor beetle, who alas cannot partake 

 of the flower's store of nectar, try as it might. Unlike the honey- 

 bee the beetle's legs are hard and shiny and bear no fuzzy hairs to 

 which the pollen might stick. He is useless to the flower and there- 

 fore unwelcome. Yet were it not for Mother Nature, \vith her de- 

 vices for protection, the beetle might drain the honey from the flower, 



