BEES IN RELA TION TO FLO WERS. 249 



distinguished by its narrow leaves, and hence named 

 angustifolium. When the flower has fully opened, 

 the eight stamens spread out, and their anthers shed 

 the pollen. Bees visit the blossoms, and getting dusted 

 with the grains, carry these away to other flowers of 

 the same kind. And here, in passing, we may recall 

 the fact of bees keeping to one species of plant 

 during the whole of any one journey from the hive. 

 The importance of this can be now better appreciated, 

 when its influence on the fructification of blossoms is 

 observed. But to return, the pistil of the willow- 

 herb remains, till the stamens have withered, curved 

 round out of the way, and unable to receive any of 

 their pollen. Then, after they are dead, it comes into 

 such a position that it can take what pollen may be 

 brought to it from younger flowers. For the convey- 

 ance of this it is dependent chiefly on bees, who do 

 not fail to carry enough for the required purpose. 

 In this way each blossom, by the agency of these 

 insects, both gives and gets what is necessary for the 

 continued life of the species ; and without these 

 unconsciously conferred benefits from insect life, no 

 seeds of this kind of epilobium would mature. 



Another instance, equally interesting, is seen in 

 the well-known cineraria tribe. The plants of this 

 genus belong to the composite order, in which what is 

 usually called the blossom, consists of many flowers, 

 grouped together on one head. In the example before 

 us, there are nearly 200 thus aggregated. These florets 

 separately open at different times, those of the outer 

 circles coming before those nearer the centre. The 

 pollen-tube of each is formed by five anthers, fas- 

 tened together at their edges, and discharging their 



