77 



''Linarla vulgaris, flower yellow, excludes shoi't-lii)i)ed 

 l)ee8 from the honey, find flies and beetles are prevented 

 from entering the flower by the tumid lower lip whieh 

 completely closes the tube ; by these characters the flower 

 becomes exclusively adapted for the most diligent of fertil- 

 izing agents, the long proboscisid bees." 



"Antirrhinum majus, })urple, our largest l)umble bees 

 can enter bodily. It is fertilized chiefly l)y bumble bees." 



" DigilaUs purjmrea, huml)le bees are the only fertilizers" ; 

 flower purple. 



"Oenothera biennis, honey Mcccssible to long-tongued 

 bees, and also adapted to nocturnal Lepidoptei'a," flower 

 yellow. 



" Galeobdolon luteum, yellow, exclusively by bees," seven 

 species. 



Clematis recta, white, seven species bees out of nineteen 

 species insects. 



Stellaria media, white, six s[)ecies bees and Ave diptera. 



Chelidonium majus, yellow, seven species bees and six 

 diptera. 



Ranancidus acris, yellow, twenty sj)ecies bees out of 

 sixty-two total species. 



Cnicus arvensis, i)urple, thirty-two species bees out of 

 eighty-eight total species 



Taraxacum offi,cinale, d.-indelion, yellow, flfty-eight spe- 

 cies bees out of ninety-three total species. 



Tf one analyzes the foregoing ({notations, it will be seen 

 that Midler says distinctly that the coloi-s of certain Howers 

 are due to the peculiar tastes of their insect visitors, who 

 by their selective agency have produced them. 



That some plants have changed the colors of their flowers, 

 and that others are in ])rocess of change, we have ah'eady 

 shown ; our object now is to ascertain, if possible, whether 

 bees have a preference for certain colors and are able at 

 their own sweet will to change one hue for another, or 

 whether the plant itself, for its own advantage, owing pos- 



