214 



NATURAL HIST(JRY OF THE FARM 



proboscis and thrusts its tip dow-nward between the bases of 

 the stamens into the nectar dish, lap])ing up wliat she can 

 reach. Then she raises her head and puslies her body 

 through and over the central clunip of stamens and st>'le tips, 

 and makes another downward thrust on^ the other side. In 

 doing this, she brushes roughly against bursting anthers, 

 filling the hairy coat of her body and legs with pollen; and 

 she rubs stigmas, also, depositing pollen u])()n their moist 

 tips. 



Figure 83 shows 

 where the nectar is, 

 and ex])lains these 

 movements of the bees. 

 The nectar is in a basin, 

 out of the center of 

 which arise the fi\'e 

 stout styles, and it is 

 fenced round aboiit by 

 a close-set palisade of 

 stamens. It can be 

 reached only from above. It caimot all be reached from any 

 one position (hence the successi\^e tlirusts of the bee into the 

 flower). Owing to the close crowding of the stamens and 

 pistils, it can only be reached by a slender proboscis. This 

 feast is not to be wasted on any wandering insect that may 

 come along; it is reserv^ed for those that are endowed with 

 suitable nectar-gathering apparatus. 



A little burrowing bee, Halicius by name, descends upon 

 the flower and goes tip- toeing upon the top of the stamen 

 cluster. She has a short proboscis that is quite unequal to 

 reaching do^^"n to the nectar-cup: so she gathers i^ollen and 

 in trampling about over the anthers tramples the stigmas as 

 well and de]X)sits pollen on them. A little grecn-and-gold 

 bee, Augochlora by name, of size intennediate between 



Fig. 83. Diagram of a section of an apple blos- 

 som, j, sepal; k, petal; / , anthers; m, stigmas; 

 n, nectar. 



