118 FOOD OF BEES. 



neighborhood of Blidah, bees cannot find honey later than 

 eight in the morning. 



251. It is when the blossom is ready for fertilization, 

 that the nectar is most abundant in it ; if it is not gatliered 

 by insects, it is re-absorbed by tlie plant and ser\es, together 

 Avith the sugar accumulated in the ovaries, to nourish the 

 seeds. 



252. The accumulations of sugar in the tissues, may exist, 

 not only in the flower, but in different parts of plants, in. the 

 cotyledons, in the lea\es, in the stipules, in the bracts, and 

 betAveen the leaves and twigs. They help the development of 

 the tissues. 



Sometimes the nectariferous tissues are destitute of stomata 

 or openings. Then the accumulated nectar may force itself 

 through the cuticle or skin of the plant. 



The water of the sap, which rmis incessantly in the plants, 

 goes out through the different tissues in unequal quantities; 

 as some tissues are more porous than others. Generally, water 

 escapes m the form of steam; but, in some circumstances, 

 when the air is moist, the water is emitted in liquid form, and 

 may can-y with it, to the outside, a part of the accumulations 

 of sugar through which it has passed, thus producing honey- 

 dew. The more sugar this water contains, the slower its 

 evaporation will be. 



253. The dampness of the soil and of the air, and a tem- 

 perature producing a profuse transpiration in plants, then a 

 sudden stop of transiiiration, are the best conditions to pro- 

 duce the maximum of nectar in the nectariferous tissues and 

 of liquid exudations on the outside. 



251. j\Iost of the abtive statements are taken, or rather 

 abridged, from "Les Nectaires," of Gaston Bonnier^ a pro- 

 fe.ssor at the Ecole Normale Superieure of Paris (1870). 

 This work was awarded a medal by the Academy of Science 

 of Paris. Bonnier backs his statements with one hundred and 

 thirty engravings made from microscopic researches. 



2.5.5. He explains, not only how the nectar is formed in 

 the blossoms, but also how the extra floral nectar, the so-called 

 honey-dew, is produced on different parts of plants, or trees. 



