LETTING THE BEES DO THEIR WORK 



lilies project the receptive stigmas far beyond the 

 stamens; or the way in which the amaryllis, the 

 carnation, the balloon-flower, the geranium, and 

 numerous others effect the same purpose by 

 careful provision that the stamens and pistils of 

 any given flower shall not come to maturity at 

 the same time. 



Then there are plants like the sage, the stamens 

 of which seem to lie in wait for the visitor; being 

 observed to bend quickly over, under stimulus of 

 contact, and rub their pollen on either side of the 

 insect's back. Again there is the milk-weed 

 (Asclepias cornuta), which stores its pollen in 

 tiers of hand-bags connected with a strap that 

 entangles the feet of the bees — and which, in its 

 over eagerness to make sure of the transfer of 

 its precious wares, sometimes defeats its own 

 purpose by so overloading the insect that it cannot 

 fly away. 



There are water plants, too, that adopt methods 

 to secure cross-fertilization that are ingenious and 

 wonderful almost beyond belief. 



Thus the little water plant called Villarsia 

 nymphoides sends out its flowers from its sub- 

 merged haunts as little detached balloons that 

 float to the surface of the water and then burst 

 open to offer their pollen to the insect messengers. 



And the eel grass (Vallesneria spiralis), by an 



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