I8i FLOWERS IN RELATION TO BEES. 



getting honey, it displaces by its head — the nectary 

 being situated so that this takes place — a little thing 

 which looks like a couple -of horns coming out of a 

 little sticky crown, and so displaces it that the crown 

 actually sticks to its head, as you see in the drawing 

 on preceding page. 



Crowned with this the bee flies away, looking like 

 a bee with horns, but by the time it has got to an- 

 other flower these little horns have so altered their 

 position that, when the bee inserts its head into a 

 fresh flower, these little horns, — which are really 

 stamens with pollen attached, — go exactly to the very 

 spot where the pistil is waiting for them ; and thus the 

 pollen is placed upon it, which could not be the case 

 in any other way. 



This, however, is only one example, and the whole 

 subject is full of such mar\'els; but sufficient has been 

 said for our present purpose, sufficient to show the 

 usefulness of the bee, for, although the wind does 

 much, and a vast number of other insects — moths, 

 butterflies, and many more — ^join in the same work, 

 no one kind does so much as our friends the bees. 



But perhaps you will say, ' I wonder why it is that 

 all this trouble is necessary. I wonder why it is that 

 every flower is not complete in itself, and has not 

 stamens and pistil ripe at the same time.' And this 

 of course would seem the simplest plan ; but, although 

 I cannot explain it all, I may say that the arrange- 

 ment, as it is, is one of the most wonderful, and one 

 of the most striking displays possible of that wisdorn, 

 which is seen in all Nature. 



When, under certain circumstances, flowers fertilise 



