124 



FOOD OF BEES. 



and faculty of reproduction. Fruits succeed better, when 

 the pollen, which fertilizes the pistil, comes from some other 

 blossom ; and the insects are intrusted with the mission of 

 transporting this pollen from one blossom to another, while 

 gathering it for their own use. In some plants, fertihzation 

 would have been impossible, without the help of insects. 

 For instance, some plants, such as the willows, are diecious, 

 having their male organs on one tree, and their female or- 

 gans on another. The bees after visiting the one for pollen, 

 go to the other for honey, and the fecundation is effected. 



B 



Fig, 43. 

 3CE0PHDLARIA NODOSA. 

 (Magnified. From Cheshire.) 



A, young blossom, a, stigma. 



B, section of blossom, ca, calyx; e, corolla; aa, aborted anthers; 

 , stigma; /, lip; u, anthers; n, nectar; 6(, black lip. 



C, older blossom. *, dropping stigma; a, anthers. 



In some other plants, such as the Scrophularia Nodosa 

 (Simpson honey plant — Fig. 43), the female organs are 

 ready for fecundation earlier than the male. But as the 

 flower secretes a large quantity of honey, which is replaced 

 in its nectaries as fast as the bees gather it, the bees, in 

 traveling from one blossom to another, carry the pollen of 

 an old blossom to the pistil of a younger one, and fertilizar 

 tion is accomplished. Some plants, corn, for instance, pro- 



