BIOLOGY OF THE FLOWER 



187 



carpels. It thus becomes dusted with pollen, which it 

 carries to older flowers where the stigmas are ripe. 



It requires an insect with a long proboscis to obtain the 

 honey from so long a tube. Often, however, the humble- 



Fig. 130. 1, Vertical Section of Flower of Columbine; 2, 

 Vertical Section of Flower of Monkshood; 3, Side View of 

 Flower of Larkspur ; 4, front view of the flower; 5, flower in 

 vertical section; n, nectary; p, petals; s.P, honey-secreting spur 

 of petal ; s.s, spurred sepal. 



bees bore holes in the spurs and so obtain the honey without 

 effecting pollination. These holes may then be used by 

 other insects which do not themselves pierce flowers. 

 The Monkshood (Fig. 130, 2) is another humble-bee 



