blossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



The whole arrangement of these flowers, together 

 with their individual tendencies, show a direct, con- 

 scious affiliation to the bumblebee, affording as 

 perfect an illustration of the sympathetic depend- 

 ence between flower and insect as we may find 

 amonof the wonders of the orchid tribe so beauti- 

 fully and clearly disclosed by Darwin. 



What is this peculiar spiral progression, if not an 

 inducement of convenience — an inviting flight of 

 stairs, as it were ? What is this individual turning 

 about of each separate flower, if not a welcome 

 invitation to its heart ? and what is this strange 

 fissure at the side but a facility to aid and to 

 ** speed the parting guest " ? And through all this, 

 how beautifully, by what wondrous art, has his 

 mission been fulfilled ! Observe our bee closely 

 with me. He now alights obliquely at the base of 

 a flower-head, inserts his head deep within the tube 

 of the lowest flower, the strange fissure assisting in 

 the expansion of its tube while his long tongue 

 probes its nectary. His wedge-shaped head has 

 forced apart the compressed sides of the corolla, 

 thus opening the pollen-box (the compressed 

 anthers) within the walls of the arched tip of the 

 flower, the yellow fertilizing powder falling upon 

 his head. 



