WHY FLOWERS ENTICE INSECTS TO VISIT THEM. 19 



CHAPTER II. 



HOW PLANTS EMPLOY INSECTS TO WORK FOK THEM. 



31. Plants supply animala with food. That, we may say, is what they were 

 made for. In some cases the whole herbage, in others the fruit, seeds, bulbs, 

 tubers, or roots, are fed upon. But vast numbers of insects, and some birds 

 (such as humming-birds), draw nourishment from plants, mainly from their flow- 

 ers, without destroying or harming them. By their colors, odors, and nectar, 

 blossoms attract insects in great numbers and variety. 



32. Nectar, the sweet liquid which most flowers produce, is the real attraction : 

 bright colors and fragrance are merely advertisements. This sweet liquid is often 

 called honey ; but nectar is the proper name for it, as it is not really honey until 

 it is made so by the bee. Some insects also take pollen (the powdery matter pro- 

 duced in the anthers : see How Plants Grow, paragraph 17), either for their own 

 consumption or that of their progeny. That may possibly do the plant some 

 harm. But the nectar they consume is of no use to flowers that we know .of, 

 except it be to entice insects. 



33. So flowers are evidently useful to insects, and most flowers are feeding- 

 places for them. Where free lunches are provided some advantage is generally 

 expected from the treat : and we are naturally led to inquire, 



34. Why shonld Flowers entice Insects to visit tiiem? What advantage are they 



likely to derive in return for the food they offer ? In certain cases the use of in- 

 sects to flowers is evident enough. When, in early spring, we see Willow-catkins 

 thronged with honey-bees, and notice that their blossoms are of the separated 

 sort (How Plants Grow, 205), — those of one tree consisting of stamens only, of 

 another tree, of pistils only, — and that the bees flying from tree to tree have their 

 bodies well dusted with pollen, we may conclude that the bees are doing useful 

 work in carrying pollen from the stamen-bearing flowers that produce it to the 

 pistil-bearing flowers that require it in order to set seed (see How Plants Grow, 

 16, 196). While feeding from the stamen-bearing catkins, their heads and bodies, 

 rubbing against the anthers, get dusted with the pollen. When they fly to a 



