THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



fly with wings as transparent as glass, except for a spot of violet 

 and rose, looks like "the wandering petal of a flower." In the 

 variegated patterns of their wings, he declares, Nature writes 

 as upon a tablet the story of the modification of species. 

 "Therefore, the study of butterflies — creatures selected as 

 types of airiness and frivolity — instead of being despised, will 

 some day be valued as one of the most important branches 

 of biological science." 



Bates's words were prophetic, and it is to-day generally 

 recognized that the brilliant markings on the wings of butter- 

 flies offer to students of evolution and heredity a most promising 

 field for investigation. Eimer, who based his theory of ortho- 

 genesis chiefly on these patterns and colorings, says: "Like the 

 leaves of an open book the written characters on the wings of 

 our butterflies show their past and present history." 



According to the catalogue published by the United States 

 National Museum, in 1902, there are in North America 6,622 

 species of Lepidoptera, of which 652 are butterflies and 5,970 

 are moths. While in other orders of insects a part of the 

 species live upon other substances than nectar and pollen, all 

 of the Lepidoptera are adapted to a floral diet. But since they 

 do not collect pollen but feed on nectar alone, they are far less 

 important than bees as pollinators and much less constant in 

 their visits. Doubtless all the butterflies at times visit flowers, 

 but only about 107 have actually been collected on flowers 

 in North America and 111 in Europe. Many adult moths do 

 not take any food at all, so that with the exception of the hawk- 

 moths and a few other families, notwithstanding their great 

 numbers, they are not frequently observed sucking nectar. In 

 North America, including 25 species of hawk-moths, or Sphin- 

 gidce, only 82 have been listed as flower- visitors; and in Europe 

 186, of which 36 are hawk-moths. The tubular proboscis or 



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