II.] IMPORTANCE OF INSECTS TO FLOWERS. 45 



are generally pale ; for instance, Lychnis vespertina is 

 white, while Lychnis dinrna, which flowers by day, 

 is red. 



I have been good-humouredly accused of attacking 

 the Bee, because I have ventured to suggest that she 

 does not possess all the high qualities which have 

 been popularly and poetically ascribed to her. But if 

 scientific observations do not altogether support the 



Fig. so. — Lychtiis vespertina. 



moral and intellectual eminence which has been 

 ascribed to Bees, they have made known to us in the 

 economy of the hive many curious peculiarities which 

 no poet had dreamt of, and have shown that bees 

 and other insects have an importance as regards 

 flowers which had been previously unsuspected. To 

 them we owe the beauty of our gardens, the sweet- 

 nes.s of our fields. To them flowers are indebted for 

 their scent and colour ; nay, for their very existence, 



