American Bee Journal. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



Voi,. III. 



A.XJOXJST, iser. 



No. 2. 



[ ^W The agency of bees in the fertilization 

 of blossoms has recently attracted much atten- 

 tion, and has been largely discussed particular- 

 ly among bee-keepers. It is manifest that 

 crude and erroneous views respecting it are pre- 

 valent even among people in other respects 

 highly intelligent. With the design to aid in 

 correcting some of these, we copy the follow- 

 ing interesting article from a late number of that 

 able and useful periodical, the American 

 Naturalist, issued monthly at Salem (Mass.) — 

 a publication deserving of eflScient and liberal 

 patronage from the lovers of natural science in 

 all parts of the country] : 



Agency of Insects in Fertilizing Plants. 



BY W. J. BEAL. 



Mr. Charles Darwin and other botanists have 

 proved beyond a doubt, that some flowers, in 

 which the pollen may easily gain access to the 

 stigma of the same flower, are sterile unless 

 fertilized by pollen borne from -other flowers, 

 while many are much more productive by a 

 cross fertilization. 



For information concerning the peculiar 

 manner in which fertilization is efiTected in the 

 Balsam, Wood-Sorrcll, Violets, Dicentra or 

 Dielytra, Corydalis, Mitchella or Partridge- 

 berry, Oldenlandia or Houstonia, Primrose, 

 Barberry, Lysimachia or Loosestrife, Orchids, 

 Dutchman's Pipe, and others , consult the ob- 

 servations recorded by Mr. J. T. Kothrock in 

 the second number of the Kaluralist,'itlx. Dar- 

 win's work on the "Fertilization of Orchids," 

 and seven articles by Dr. A. Gray in the 

 American Agriculturist, beginning in May, 

 18G6. 



With the fact that insects are necessary to 

 fertilize some plants, and the theory that all are 

 improved bj- crossing, let us see how Ihi.-; is ac- 

 complished in plants which may not seem to 

 reciuire the aid of the wind or insects. Plants 

 are very rarely found in which the pollen may 

 not, occasionally at least, get to the etigma of 



another flower of the same, or an allied species. 

 Then if the pollen is "prepotent" or most efiec- 

 tive on stigmas when thus transferred, a cross 

 is very sure to result, even though much pollen 

 comes in contact with the stigma of the same 

 flower. Dr. Gray, acquainted with the facts, 

 and familiar with the structure of the Iris, saw 

 that insects must be needed for the fertilization 

 of this plant also, and without seeing the bees 

 upon them, shrewdly pointed out the manner 

 in which they must carry the pollen from one 

 flower to another. We verified his theory by 

 observations made two years ago, and found it 

 to be true in the essential particulars. 



Without giving a scientific description of the 

 flower, it is enough for our present purpose to 

 say, that the parts consist of three curved tubes, 

 each just about large enough to admit a common 

 honey-bee, being a trifle larger than a cell in 

 her comb. 



There is a showy crest, or attractive platform, 

 projecting at the other end of each tube upon 

 which the bee first alights. When going into 

 the flower for the first time during the day, she 

 is free from pollen. She brushes against a lid 

 which hangs from above, not unlike an old- 

 fashioned swinging door of a cat-hole, as some- 

 times seen about barns or corn-cribs. When 

 farther in beyond the lid, she comes against the 

 anther, which only discharges pollen on the 

 side next to the bee's back. After getting what 

 nectar she can at the lower end of the tube, she 

 backs out again, pushing the trap door in the 

 opposite direction. The outside of this door is 

 the only part of the stigma upon which the 

 pollen will produce any eflect, so upon visiting 

 the first tube no pollen adheres to the sensi- 

 tive side of the stigma, although the bee 

 leaves the place with her back well pow- 

 dered. Calling at another tube, she divesinas 

 before, this time dusting the outside of the lid 

 with pollen which was brought from the tube 

 first visited. 



In the early part of June, I examined the 

 common Blue Flag {Iris versicolor Linn.) at 

 diflcreul times during the day, and always suc- 

 ceeded in seeing the bees at work while their 

 heads and backs contained an abundance of 

 pollen. In wilted flowers, and in some that 



