114 SIE J. LTJBBOCK ON ANTS, BEES, AND "WASPS. 



This table does not indeed show any absolute preference for one 

 color rather than another. In the first place the number of 

 species compared is very different in the case of the different 

 colors ; and in the second place, the results may of course be due 

 to the taste, quantity, or accessibility of the honey (all of which 

 we know exercise a great influence), rather than by the color of 

 the flower. Still the table rather seems to indicate that bees 

 preferred red, white, and yellow, to blue. 



I may very likely be asked why it is that if blue is the favorite 

 color of bees, and if bees have had so mucb to do with the origin 

 of flowers, how is it that there are so few blue ones ? I believe 

 the explanation to be that all blue flowers have descended from 

 ancestors in which the flowers were green, and that they have 

 passed through stages of white or yellow, and generally red, before 

 becoming blue. That all flowers were originally green and 

 inconspicuous, as those of so many plants are still, has, I think, 

 been shown by recent researches, especially those of Darwin, 

 Miiller, and Hildebrand. 



But what are the considerations which seem to justify us in 

 concluding that blue flowers were formerly yellow or white ? 

 Let us consider some of the orders in which blue flowers occur 

 with others of different colors. 



For instance, in the Eanuuculaceffi *, those with simple open 

 flowers, such as the buttercups and Thalictrums, are generally 

 yellow or white. The blue Delphiniums and Aconites are highly 

 specialized, abnormal forms, and doubtless, therefore, of more 

 recent origin. Among the Caryophyllacese the red and piirplish 

 species are amongst those with highly specialized flowers, such as 

 JDianthus and Sciponaria, while the simple open flowers, which 

 more nearly represent the ancestral type, such as Stellaria, Ce- 

 rastmm, &c. are yellow and white. I cannot, therefore, concur 

 with Hildebrand in considering that red was the original color 

 of the family. 



Take, again, the Primulaceae. The open-flowered, honeyless 

 species, such as Lysimachia and Trientalis, are generally white or 

 yellow ; while red, purple, and blue occur principally in the highly 

 specialized species with tubular flowers. The genus Anagallis 

 here, however, certainly forms an exception. 



Among the violets we find some yellow, some blue species ; and 



* I take most of the followiug facts from MilUer's aduiirable work on Alpine 

 Flowers. 



