THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



Although honey-bees freely rob the nectaries after they have 

 been punctured by bumblebees, they are probably not able 

 themselves to bite holes in them. On August 14, 1909, the 

 vines of the scarlet runner in my garden were a blaze of glory. 

 Honey-bees and bumblebees were constantly coming and go- 

 ing, but not one of them visited the flowers in the normal way. 

 There was a hole on the under-side of every nectary; and the 

 bees went directly to these holes, out of which they easily sucked 

 the nectar. The punctures were all on the left-hand side, which 

 may be explained by the fact that the larger bees almost in- 

 variably alight on the left wing, for the reason that the spirally 

 coiled carina closes the entrance beneath the standard on the 

 right-hand side. 



In the spring of the following year, 1910, I planted 5 hills 

 of the scarlet runner bean at a distance of about 50 feet from 

 my apiary. By the last of July it was in bloom and presented 

 a most attractive appearance. I examined 20 racemes, but not 

 a flower was punctured. Throughout the season I kept the 

 flowers under close surveillance, but with the same result — 

 none of them were perforated. What was the cause of this 

 result, which was directly opposite to that observed the previ- 

 ous season ? For some reason, perhaps the absence of any nests 

 in the vicinity, in 1910, during the entire blooming-period of 

 the scarlet runner, I saw not a single specimen of Bombus terri- 

 cola in my garden, the species of bumblebee so common on the 

 flowers the preceeding season. The honey-bees from the neigh- 

 boring hives were constantly flying over the garden, but they 

 did not puncture the flowers, doubtless because they were not 

 able to do so. The perforations of the previous season appear 

 thus to have been made wholly by bumblebees. (Fig. 51.) 



It has frequently been asserted that honey-bees puncture 

 ripe grapes, but this is undoubtedly an error. The punctures 



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