THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



study of Myosotis, or the forget-me-not. He has not been 

 forgotten. His name and theory were rescued from obscurity 

 by Darwin; his book a few years ago was repubhshed at Leip- 

 sic, and is now universally recognized, says Mueller, as having 

 "struck out a new path in botanical science." 



Sprengel was convinced that the wise Framer of nature had 

 not produced a single hair without a definite purpose, and he 

 examined a great many flowers for the purpose of learning the 

 meaning of their forms and the arrangement of their parts. 

 The salver-formed flower of the forget-me-not is sky-blue with 

 a yellow eye. "Wliile studying the flower of Myosotis I was 

 struck," he says, "by the yellow ring w^hich surrounds the 

 opening of the corolla tube, and which is beautifully conspicu- 

 ous against the sky-blue of the limb." (Fig. 1.) *' Might not, 

 I thought, this circumstance also have some reference to in- 

 sects? Might not nature have especially colored this ring, 

 to the end that it might show insects the way to the nectar- 

 reservoir .^^ " On further observation he found that the en- 

 trances to many other flowers w^ere marked w^ith spots, lines, 

 and dots differently colored from the rest of the corolla. These 

 marks he called "nectar guides." "If the particular color 

 of one part of a flower," he rightly inferred, "serves to enable 

 an insect, w^hich has settled on the flower, easily to find the 

 right way to the nectar, then the general color of the corolla is 

 serviceable in rendering the flowers provided with it conspicu- 

 ous even from afar to the eyes of insects that hover around 

 in the air in search of food." 



Sprengel decided that flowers secrete nectar for the sake of 

 attracting insects, and that it is protected by hairs or nectaries 

 in order that they may enjoy it pure and unspoiled. At first 

 he thought that the flowers received no service in return; but 

 he soon observed that the guests pollinated the flowers. He 



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