THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



Other familiar bumblebee -flowers are the beautiful Rhodora 

 canadensis, which is j^ollinated in spring by queen bumblebees, 

 the only caste of bumblebees then on the wing, for the males 

 and workers do not appear until later (Figs. 44 and 45); the 

 fly-honeysuckle {Lonicera ciUata), also pollinated in May by fe- 

 male bumblebees, which in their haste to get the nectar often 

 cut the buds into shreds; the Tartarian honeysuckle {Lonicera 

 Tartarica) of the garden (Fig. 39); the bog fly-honeysuckle 

 {Lonicera ccerulea); the bush-honeysuckle {Diervilla trifida), the 

 yellow flowers of which turn red in fading; the horse-chestnut; 

 the foxglove; and the Gladiolus. 



The garden-bean is largely self-fertilized, but bumblebees 

 visit the flowers more or less; the scarlet runner is also a bum- 

 blebee-flower, although honey-bees are often able to gather 

 a little of the nectar. The lungwort {Pidmonaria officinalis), 

 belladonna {Atropa belladonna), the bearberry (Arctostaphylos 

 Uva-ursi), the wood-betony {Pedicidaris sylvatica), gill-over-the- 

 ground {Glechoma hederacea), and largely butter-and-eggs 

 (Linaria indgaris) are bumblebee-flowers. The scarlet sage 

 (Salvia pratensis), with its walking-beam mechanism for placing 

 the pollen on a bee's back, the dragon's-head {Dracocephalum, 

 3 species), Molucca balm (Moluccella loevis), bugle {Ajuga rep- 

 tans), and several orchids, as the showy orchis {Orchis spec- 

 tabilis), the i:)ink flowers of Pogonia ophioglossoides common in 

 bogs, and Calypso borealis are all pollinated by bumblebees. 

 The pretty flowers of the purple Gerardia {Gerardia purpurea) 

 are abundant in autumn, but they contain little nectar and few 

 bumblebees visit them. . Finally there may be added to the 

 list Cerinthe alpina, Scopolia atropoides, and black henbane 

 {Hyoscyamns niger) . 



No matter how bizarre or grotesque a bumblebee-flower may 

 be to-day, it is derived from a primitive form that was per- 



84 



