BARBERRY MANNERS 22/ 



barberry, whether with its "strings o' golden flow- 

 ers " or its drooping clusters of brilliant scarlet 

 acid berries. But each one of those berries is but 

 a token of a bee's visit, as we shall presently see. 

 At Fig. I I have shown a plan of the barberry 

 blossom seen from below, its yellow sepals and 

 petals open, and opposite each of the inner set, 

 and pressed against it, a stamen. This stamen 

 is shown below in three stages — closed, part- 

 ly open, and fully open — the queer little ear- 

 shaped lids finally drawn up, showing the pollen- 

 pockets, and also withdrawing a portion of the 

 pollen from the cavity. At the centre is seen 

 the circular tip of the ovary which finally becomes 

 the berry — that is, when the little scheme here 

 planned has been fulfilled. This circular form 

 represents the tip of the ovary, and the little 

 toothed rim the stigma. Now what is the inten- 

 tion here expressed.? This construction repre- 

 sents a plan, first, to invite a bee — this is done by 

 its color, its fras^rance, and its nectar, which is se- 

 creted in a gland at the base of each petal, near 

 the centre of the flower; secondly, to make that 

 bee bear away the pollen ; thirdly, to cause that 

 same bee to place this pollen on the stigma rim of 

 the next flower he visits. In Fig. 2 we see how 

 beautifully this plan is carried out by the insect, 

 without his suspecting how perfectly he has been 

 utilized. At A we see the same flower cut open 



