THE BEETLES VIEW OF LIFE. 239 



attracting insects, which carry their pollen from head 

 to head, and so fertilise and impregnate the seeds. 

 Moreover, the colours of the petals differ in different 

 species, according to the kind of insects which they 

 each wish to attract. Thus, bee-flowers are usually 

 blue or red ; and Sir John Lubbock has proved that 

 bees show a distinct preference for these colours, 

 while beetle-flowers are often yellow, and small fly- 

 flowers are generally white. Such facts, and others 

 like them, show that the beetle has sensations of sight 

 essentially identical with our own, and also that he 

 has certain special tastes for certain special hues and 

 blossoms. 



It is much the same with the other senses. The 

 beetle certainly hears sounds ; and his hearing appears 

 to be analagous to our own ; for the ~gh he himself is 

 not musical, yet many other insects are; and these 

 produce special notes and melodias to charm the 

 ladies of their kind. He can also taste, and is fond 

 of sweet things, like most other animals, for the 

 flowers which seek to allure him lay by a drop of 

 honey for his use ; and this liking for sugary juices 

 is shared by almost all insects, from the flies which 

 crowd around a barrel of treacle at a grocer's door, to 

 the ants which suck the honey-dew from the little 

 green aphides that they keep as we keep cows. Last 

 of all, he can smell, for the flowers which depend on 

 him for fertilisation are usually perfumed, and both 

 beetles and other insects are often attracted by scent, 

 as all collectors well know ; indeed, they frequently 



