blossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



to his condition, and has determined to rationally 

 fulfil the ideal of his environment, as he may, per- 

 haps, have already done voluntarily before. The 

 buzzing ceases, and our bee is now finding sweet 

 solace for his incarceration in the copious nectar 

 which he finds secreted among the fringy hairs in 

 the upper narrowed portion of the flower, as shown 

 at Fig. 3. 



Having satiated his appetite, he concludes to quit 

 his close quarters. After a few moments of more 

 vehement futile struggling and buzzing, he at length 

 espies, through the passage above the nectary fringe, 

 a gleaming light, as from two windows (A). To- 

 ward these he now approaches. As he advances, 

 the passage becomes narrower and narrower, until 

 at length his back is brought against the over- 

 hanging stigma (Fig. 4). So narrow is the pass at 

 this point that the efforts of the bee are distinctly 

 manifest from the outside in the distension of the 

 part and the consequent slight change in the droop 

 of the lip. In another moment he has passed this 

 ordeal, and his head is seen protruding from the 

 window-like opening (A) on one side of the col- 

 umn. But his struggles are not yet ended, for his 

 egress is still slightly checked by the narrow dimen- 

 sions of the opening, and also by the detention of 



162 



