316 PLANT-LIFE 



it is half full Humble Bees can, with a push, secure a 

 little sip of honey. 



Flowers that secrete honey may be visited by insects 

 for pollen as well as honey, but there are some insect- 

 pollinated flowers which do not produce honey, and 

 hence pollen is the only inducement they can offer to 

 their guests. Such plants are deemed lower in the 

 evolutionary scale than honey producers. These pollen- 

 flowers usually have numerous stamens, with large 

 anthers, which produce pollen in abundance. They are 

 visited by Beetles, which consume all the pollen they 

 can eat on the spot, and by Bees, which collect the 

 pollen and bear it to their hives, there mixing it 

 with honey, and making the " bee-bread " with which 

 they feed their grubs. Among pollen flowers are the 

 Rose, Rockrose (Plate LX.), Clematis, Marsh Marigold 

 (Plate VIII.) , and Gorse. As a general rule, the pollen 

 of insect-pollinated plants is sticky in contradistinction 

 to the smooth, dry, easily scattered pollen of anemo- 

 philous flowers. Being viscid, it is not readily removed 

 by wind, and besides it adheres to the body of an insect 

 as it flies from flower to flower. 



The insects which are of chief importance in pollina- 

 tion are Butterflies, Moths, Flies, Beetles, Bees, and 

 Wasps. Of these, the Bees are chief. The Butterflies 

 and Moths, perhaps, are next in value for this work. 

 While some flowers, such as Arum (p. 313), are specially 

 adapted for pollination by Flies, as a general rule these 

 insects secure a lot of pelf for little service. They do 

 not confine their attention to particular species, and, 

 naturally, if they carry pollen from one species to 

 another, the practical result in fertilization is nil. A 



