FERTILIZATION IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 237 



with the sole difference that less than half of the flowers 

 had been perforated by the humble-bees ; nevertheless all the 

 hive-bees gave up sucking at the mouths of the flowers and 

 visited exclusively the bitten ones. Now how did the hive- 

 bees find out so quickly that holes had been made ? Instinct 

 seems to be out of the question as the plant is an exotic. 

 The holes cannot be seen by bees whilst standing on the 

 wing-petals, where they had always previously alighted. From 

 the ease with which bees were deceived when the petals of 

 Lobelia Erinus were cut off, it was clear that in this case 

 they were not guided to the nectar by its smell ; and it may 

 be doubted whether they were attracted to the holes in the 

 flowers of the Phaseolus by the odor emitted from them. 

 Did they perceive the holes by the sense of touch in their 

 proboscides, whilst sucking the flowers in the proper manner, 

 and then reason that it would save them time to alight on the 

 outside of the flower and use the holes ? This seems almost 

 too abstruse an act of reason for bees ; and it is more prob- 

 able that they saw the humble-bees at work, and understand- 

 ing what they were about, imitated them and took advantage 

 of the shorter path to the nectar. Even with animals high 

 in the scale, such as monkeys, we should be surprised at hear- 

 ing that all the individuals of one species within the space 

 of twenty-four hours understood an act performed by a dis- 

 tinct species and profited by it." — (pp. 430, 431.) 



But we must cut short our citations and remarks ; passing 

 by one of the most important points, relative to the amount 

 of fertilizing work done by insects, namely, the evidence of 

 the extraordinary industry of bees and the number of flowers 

 visited within a short time ; which, as well as the distance 

 to which pollen is sometimes transported, is far greater than 

 one would have supposed. But the volume is reprinting by 

 the Appletons, and will soon be within the reach of all, — 

 along with a new edition of the Orchid-fertilization book, the 

 proper supplement to the present work, relating as it does to 

 the class of plants in which the adaptation for fertilization by 

 insects is carried to the highest degree of specialization and 

 perfection. 



