The IVood-^etonw a Trotcge of the Vi/mblebee 



He has now emptied the horn of plenty, when, 

 ahiiost without withdrawino- his head, he sHps his 

 tongfue throuirh the ready exit — the fissure in the 

 flower-tube — to find an expectant, inviting face 

 turned toward him, and in the most convenient 

 possible attitude for his kiss. 



He proceeds as before, but not until he has 

 unwittingly paid his toll and won his right of way, 

 having deposited the requisite touch of pollen upon 

 the overhanging tip of the stigma, and thus cross- 

 fertilized the flower. And thus he pursues his 

 course to the summit of the spiral, carrying from 

 its latest anthers a vivifying touch which secures in 

 the next flower-head he visits the still more impor- 

 tant function of absolute cross-fertilization from a 

 separate plant. Indeed, it is doubtful whether the 

 pollen from separate heads is not more or less con- 

 tinually intermingled, and this end secured in all 

 the flowers, considering that only a grain or two of 

 the thousands are required to insure the fertilization 

 of the ovules. 



Within an hour after the discovery of the first bee 

 upon the wood-betony, the woods were murmuring 

 with their mingled hum. I counted twenty of the 

 insects at work within a radius of ten feet, and won- 

 dered that I could previously have been so blind 



89 



