88 



in the evening, Oenothera, yellow ; Azalea viscosa and 

 privet, both white ; Apocynum androsrem(foh'u7n, pale pink ; 

 and a garden larkspur, var. candelabrum, blue-purple ! 

 One is not likely to know what its preferences Averc for 

 color, but it certainly appeared to l)e enjoying itself as 

 much on one as on the other. 



It is the same story for the moths as for the bees and 

 butterflies, wasps, hornets and ichneumons, they all seek 

 honey wherever it can be o])tained, color or no color ; and 

 quite a percentage of the smaller kinds are content simply 

 to sip the honey-dew from the green leaves, never visiting 

 a flower, as is easily proved by walking through bushes in a 

 midsummer evening where there are no flowers, and seeing 

 the millers fly up before you on every hand, to alight again 

 on other leaves ! 



In a comparison of Alpine Gentians, Muller suggests the 

 following theory of their evolution : 



G. lutea is of a lower grade than the others and nearer 

 the primitive form. From one branch of the original a 

 campanulate form was evolved in its relation to honey l)ees. 

 Finally the corolla became so narrow that Lepid()})tera as 

 well as humble l)ees were obliged to perform cross-fertiliza- 

 tion. "The j)rimitive color retained in G. lutea, was grad- 

 ually exchanged for blue by the influence of the huml)le 

 bees." 



When one notices bumble bees so hardly pressed in the 

 " struggle for existence," that they bite the sticky tubes of 

 white Azalea viscosa and the yellow tubes of Impatiens and 

 numerous other sorts of tubes which it is impracticable for 

 them to enter at the mouth, one can hardly believe that 

 these same bees are all this time diligently developing blue 

 flowers, and that wasps arc developing yellow flowers when 

 they seek blue larkspur from which to pilfer the honey in 

 the same way, each one abandoning his supposed favorite 

 color to obtain honey with difficulty from another which he 

 dislikes ! But in addition to the evidence before our eyes 



