150 INSECT BEHAVIOR 



fly away without a speck of pollen clinging to its legs, and thus ac- 

 complish nothing, save the downfall of the flower. 



But the beetle has a short tongue indeed, as compared with that 

 of the bee, and plunge it as he might into the pin-hole entrance at 

 the bottom of the pistil, it could never reach the sweets in the bottom 

 of the cup. Thus is the squash protected from such insects which 

 would not give their services in exchange. He leaves the flower no 

 wiser than he came, and the honey lies unspoiled and untasted in 

 its cup, to await the coming of the friendly bee. 



Of course there are certain insects, other than the many species 

 of bees, who are so constructed by nature that they are able to obtain 

 the squash flower's honey, but even these are beneficial in most cases. 

 There are the Bombyliid flies, for instance, who resemble a bumble- 

 bee so closely that one unfamiliar with them would think twice be- 

 fore doing anything to arouse their possible displeasure! These in- 

 sects possess a long flexible tongue like that of a bee, and although 

 the hair is absent upon the legs, the body is so thickly clothed with 

 it that it undoubtedly serves as an efficient carrier for pollen. 



Many tiny crawling creatures of the insect world, small enough 

 to insert their entire head or body into the nectar cup, would be seri- 

 ous factors for the plants to reckon with, had not Nature supplied 

 them with numbers of stout hairs and spines of their own, over 

 which the insects cannot pass. Nothing is overlooked. Nature is 

 indeed a watchful mother. 



There are few of us who would care to walk abroad upon a sum- 

 mer's morn down in the garden among the blooming squash, and 

 see and watch these things until they knew the why and wherefore 

 of it all. How many of Nature's secrets there are about us all the 

 time, just like this little story of the squash, the beetle and the bee, 

 only waiting for the one who cares enough to learn them. 



