BEES COURT THE CLOVER 111 



calyx of its own. The prickly hedge of thorns did not 

 guard the sleeping beauty more securely from marauders 

 until the right prince should come than do these bristling 

 hairs protect the honey store from robber ants, giving only 

 before the ardor of the honeybee. 



The advance of the clover floret has modified its orig- 

 inal shape, and it no longer resembles the common pea 

 blossom, which has four distinct and separate petals. In 

 the clover floret these will be seen to have grown together 

 at the base, making a single tube most convenient for 

 honey hunters. Yet look farther. Not only is the bee 

 served, but nature has seen to it that the clover should 

 benefit by the change. The stamens of the floret have 

 coalesced with the petal tube, and the entering bee pays 

 toll for his honey by scattering the pollen and fertilizing 

 the blossom, making it a certain seed bearer. 



Every one with a taste for sweets knows the flavor of 

 clover honey. It inherits the deliciousness of the nectar 

 of the gods gleaned from the thymy banks of the vale of 

 Hymettus and the slopes of Parnassus; and who dares 

 deny that the clover meadows were there, and but escaped 

 the eyes of the poet though he inhaled their fragrance*? 

 For no thymy banks can vie with a clover field in mid- 

 summer. 



The red clover claims the splendid humblebee for its 

 very own. His proboscis was designed to penetrate its 

 long trumpet and carry off the honey collected in the 



