BEES AND FLOWERS 



281 



naturalist give her a more profound significance than 

 all the high organisation of the honey-bee. The garden 

 in which she lives is in large measure her own work, 

 for its flowers and fruits are responses to the stimuli 

 that countless generations of her descendants have 



I* in. 57. — Adaptive structures of the Hive Bee for comparison with fig. 58. 

 A, Feathered hair for collecting pollen. B, Hind-leg of worker. C, 

 Inner surface (if the part marked x in B to show the stiff hairs for 

 gathering pollen and the wax-pincers. D, Spur on the middle leg for 

 removing pollen. E, Comb on the fore-leg for cleaning hairs. — {After 

 Folsom. 'Entomology* London: Messrs. Rebman, I J J.) 



successively applied to corolla, stamens, and stigma, 

 as their tongue grew longer, their legs more capacious, 

 their wax plates more generous. The history of 

 flowers would almost be a blank, but for the Prosopis 

 and her vast following ; a hundred thousand varieties 

 would disappear if the bees did not visit them ; and 



