93 



New England, and I htive noticed considerable difference 

 in the various species as to tlie llowers they visit. There 

 are also over one hundred species that are classed as bees, 

 large and small, in the same territory, and taking together 

 all the tlovver-visiting kinds of insects, their number would 

 be in the thousands ! 



In a i)ond I found a large quantity of Pontederia, pick- 

 erel-weed, while the border was lined with Cephalanthus. 

 The pickerel-weed was visited by bumble bees and several 

 pretty maroon or reddish-brown banded humming-bird 

 moths and several kinds of butterflies, but by no honey 

 bees ! Cephalanthus was visited by many honey bees and 

 a number of bumble bees, also butterflies. The white 

 flower of Cephalanthus, just coming into bloom, was pre- 

 ferred by the honey bees to the 1)1 ue of Pontederia ! 



At about the same time it was observed that there were 

 scarcely any honey bees and but few bumble bees in a 

 garden of twenty or more choice varieties of flowers, several 

 of which were pur})le or violet. The apparent explanation 

 was, that at a short distance from the garden there was a 

 lawn containing a number of bushes of the sweet scented 

 l)rivet, which apparently had attracted all the bees o^the 

 neighborhood. 



A little later in the season every honey bee deserted 

 heliotrope and mignonette, which earlier had been especially 

 attractive to them, for Amj)elo2}sis Veltchel, a perfectly 

 green and insigniflcant flower, almost concealed by broad 

 leaves ! They even appeared to |)refer this flower when 

 petals and stamens had dro})ped off. Bumble l)ees did not 

 api)ear to have the instinct to Hnd it. These examples 

 from the pond and garden illustrate the competition of 

 flowers and the changing tastes of insects, and also prove 

 that there are greater attractions than color. 



In relation to the color of a flower being adapted to its 

 environment, I have remarked that scarlet tulips expand 

 their cup-shaped corollas sooner after cold or cloudy weather 



