CHAPTER XXVI. 



BEES IN RELATION TO FLOWERS. 



Connection of Plant-life and Insect-life Reproduction of Flowers 

 Intervention of Insects Hermaphrodite Flowers Cross-fertilisa- 

 tion Cucumbers, Melons, &c. Poplars Firs Epilobium or 

 Willow Herb Cinerarias Darwin's Experiments Nasturtium 

 Foxglove Figwort Salvia Heath Strawberry, Raspberry, 

 and Blackberry Apple and Pear Altruism of Bees. 



THE connection between insects and the plant-world, 

 and the mutual benefits they render, have long been 

 known to man. While the one kingdom is almost 

 entirely dependent on the other for sustenance, and 

 this, not only as regards food, but for dwelling-places 

 also : the organic, but (so far as we can judge) in- 

 animate, one of the two, requires the aid of the 

 animate for the continued reproduction of many of 

 its members. 



It would lead us too far from the subject of this 

 book to enter at all fully into the question of the 

 complete interaction of plant-life and insect-life. In 

 dealing with the relations of bees to flowers we shall, 

 therefore, confine our remarks almost entirely to the 

 important part played by these creatures in the 

 reproduction of certain kinds of plants. 



