382 CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN. 



wetted, they could not fly away, but were com- 

 pelled to crawl out through the passage formed by 

 the spout or overflow. . . . The passage is narrow, 

 and is roofed over by the column, so that a bee, in 

 forcing its way out, first rubs its back against the 

 viscid stigma and then against the viscid glands of 

 the pollen-masses. The pollen-masses are thus 

 glued to the back of the bee which first happens to 

 crawl out through the passage of a lately expanded 

 flower, and are thus carried away. . . . 



"When the bee, thus provided, flies to another 

 flower, or to the same flower a second time, and is 

 pushed by its comrades into the bucket and then 

 crawls out by the passage, the pollen-mass neces- 

 sarily comes first into contact with the viscid 

 stigma, and adheres to it, and the flower is fertil- 

 ized. Now at last we see the full use of every part 

 of the flower ; of the water-secreting horns, of the 

 bucket half full of water, which prevents the bees 

 from flying away, and forces them to crawl out 

 through the spout, and rub against the properly 

 placed viscid pollen-masses and the viscid stigma." 



Darwin said : " The Botanists praise my Orchid- 

 book to the skies. . . . There is a superb, but, I 

 fear, exaggerated, review in the 'London Review.' 

 But I have not been a fool, as I thought I was, to 

 publish ; for Asa Gray, about the most competent 

 judge in the world, thinks almost as highly of the 

 book as does the ' London Review.' " 



Darwin wrote several other books on plants. 

 " The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants " 



