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and passes its legs over its body to collect the still adhering pollen-grains. These 

 it proceeds to pack into the hollow shanks of its hind legs, the corbulae or baskets 

 with which nature has provided it, that it may be able to convey its plunder to the 

 hive. 



The bodies of bees are particularly fitted up for the conveyence of pollen from 

 flower to flower, for they arc clothed with short, bristly hair, which has a marked 

 set towards the point of the abdomen. In backing out from the flower a bee can 

 hardly fail to dislodge the ripened pollen-grains, and retain them until they are 

 brought in contact with the viscid surface of a stigma, or are swept oif by the stouter 

 bristles with which the legs of the insect are provided. 



The further history of the pollen -grains left adhering to the stigma is this: 

 In a short time they begin, by a sort of germination, to extend minute tubes down 

 the style D, along the walls of the ovule E, through the micropyle F, into the em- 

 bryo-sac, where they mingle their contents with those of the oosphere, and complete 

 the fertilization of the flower. 



The importance of this cross-fertilization of the blossoms, brought about by the 

 agency of the bees, is beyond all human estimation. It was a saying of Darwin 

 that ' nature abhors self-fertilization; ' and certainly observation has taught us that 

 cross-fertilization results in a supply of better fruit, and, eventually, in the produc- 

 tion of more vigorous plants, than results from the self-fertilization of a plant by its 

 own pollen. 



By a natural law or instinct which we cannot understand, but the effects of 

 which in the movements of the bee we observe, this ci-oss-fertilization is kept within 

 bounds. A bee on an expedition in search of nectar and pollen confines its atten- 

 tion, for the time being, to. th^ flowers of one kind of plants; and an observer, stand- 

 ing by a bee-hive, will see the bees entering, some with pellets of yellow, and some 

 with pellets of orange-red, but never any with a mixture of the three. 



In the case of plants bearing unisexual flowers such as Cucumis, no doubt the 

 chief means for the fertilization of the female flowers is the agency of bees. Indeed, 

 when melons are forced under glass, and the blossoms are brought to perfection 

 before bees are on the wing, artificial means have to be resorted to for impregnating 

 the female blossoms. 



The various kinds of pollen-collecting bees, therefore, — Apis melUfica, Drm-y; 

 Bombus terricola, Kirby ; B. Pennsylv aniens, De Geer, B. fervidus' Fabricius ; B. 

 ternarius, Say, &c., are among the fruit-growers' most persistive and valuable insect- 

 friends. 



'Next to the various species of bees that we have alluded to as friends of the 

 fruit-gi'ower come many of those large and beautiful insects called " humming bird 

 moths," or " hawk moths." The hawk-moth, of whatsoever species, is provided with 

 a long proboscis, which, when not in use, is curled up like a watch-spring, and hidden 

 between the palpi ; but, when the insect is engaged in taking food, is extended to 

 its full length, and thrust among the filaments of the blossoms. By the disturbance 

 of the anthers in the play of this organ, and by the rapid fanning of the wide-spread 

 wings of the moth as it hovers over the blossoms, the pollen-grains are scattered all 

 around, and cross-fertilization results. 



A fruit-tree in full blossom does indeed present a busy and interesting scene. 

 The honey-bees are there in full force ; numerous large females of the various species 

 of humble-bees hurry hither and thither — at this early season there are no males 

 nor small females of their kinds — and dancing over the blossoms with easy flight are 

 the clear-winged humming-bird moths, Hemaris Thysbe (Fabr.) and S. tenuis (Grote), 

 and here and there, Ampfiion Nessus (Cramer), with its rich brown dress and golden 

 belts. The air is made vocal by the wings of the busy multitude ; the tree itself 

 blushes with the rich promise of future good ; and the whole scene is one that may 

 well gladden the heart of the beholder. 



As night draws on the bees and other diurnal insects retire ; but many species 

 of noctuids come forth from their retreats, to enjoy the banquet that the open 

 flowers afford them. 



