LETTING THE BEES DO THEIR WORK 



industriously to gather the adhesive pollen grains 

 with the aid of a curious pair of tentacles growing 

 about her mouth; tentacles unlike those of any 

 other moth. 



As the pollen grains are gathered they are 

 rolled into a small pellet, and when this is of a 

 satisfactory size, the moth leaves the flower and 

 flies to another. 



But here instead of continuing her task of 

 pollen-gathering, the insect makes her way to the 

 center of the flower and, piercing the basis of the 

 pistil with her ovipositor, lays her eggs among 

 the embryo seeds of the ovary. Then she crawls 

 carefully up the style and, poising at the tip, 

 pushes the little ball of pollen down into the 

 cavity of the stigma. 



By this seemingly preconceived and carefully 

 perfected plan, then, the little moth has obviously 

 done precisely the thing necessary to insure 

 fertilization of the flower in which her eggs are 

 deposited, with pollen from another flower. 



No plant experimenter, whatever his skill, 

 could have done the thing better. 



Gross-fertilization is assured; the ovules among 

 which the eggs of the moth were deposited are 

 sure to develop, giving an abundant supply of 

 food for the larvae when in due course they are 

 hatched. The little grubs will grow and thrive, 



[199] 



