2 N SECTS AND COLORED FLOWERS. 549 
ing the flowering season. I noticed that a bee very seldom touched ahead of the 
red clover, though it was the tallest and much the most attractive and brilliant, 
so far as color was concerned. There seemed to be but little difference in the 
number visiting the other two varieties; but when a bee began on either kind it 
continued on that till it had secured its load. 
The conclusion to which I am led is that so far from the brilliancy of flowers 
being the only attraction of bees, they are but little, if at all, influenced by this 
consideration, but they are guided almost wholly by the presence of accessible 
nectar. How they first learned of its presence there I am not sure that I can 
tell, but most likely by the sense of smell. When, therefore, men assert, as 
above, and as Mr. Tyndall in his Belfast address, in giving the views of Mr. 
Darwin, tells us that ''The beauty of flowers is due to natural selection, those 
that distinguish themselves by vividly contrasting colors from the surrounding 
green leaves, are most readily seen, most frequently visited by insects, most 
often fertilized and hence most favored by natural selection ; " so far as the more 
frequent visits of insects is concerned, this grand scheme of "natural selection" 
exists only in the minds of these speculators. 
But next let us inquire what dependence is to be placed in the statement 
that those plants having brilliantly colored flowers are more frequently fertilized 
and so more prolific than others. We might stop here and simply ask, are such 
plants more prolific than others? and leave those who make the affirmation to 
give us some evidence besides their simple statements. Is the hollyhock any 
more prolific than the chickweed that fertilizes itself before it opens its tiny 
petals? Is the sunflower more prolific or more able to hold its own in the 
" struggle for existence " than the sand-bur? Corn fertilizes itself by simply 
shedding the pollen from the tassel upon the silk without any insect agency. 
Wheat is generally fertilized before the stamens and pistils have protruded be- 
yond the palae of the chaff. 
The fact is that the doctrine of insect agency in the fertilization of plants has 
been pushed too far — much farther than the facts will warrant. 
Mr. Thomas Meehan, than whom there is none more competent to speak 
on this subject, after extended and repeated experiments for the express purpose 
of throwing light on this subject, draws the following conclusions: (i). "That 
the great bulk of colored flowering plants are self-fertilizers. (2). That only to 
a limited extent do insects aid fertilization. (3). Self-fertilizers are every way 
as healthy and vigorous, and are immensely more productive, than those depend- 
ent on insect aid. (4). That when plants are so dependent they are the worse 
fitted to engage in the struggle for life — the great underlying principle of natural 
selection." Where is there a more prolific seed-bearing plant than the lambs- 
quarter — Chenopodium alba — though both flowers and seeds are so inconspicuous 
as to be scarcely noticeable. Still another example is found in the Amaranth 
family which though very minute in both flower and seed is one of the most 
prolific weeds to be found in the country — often multiplying by tens of thou- 
sands. Let us turn now for a moment to the consideration of colored fruits, as 
