SELECTIVE ACTION OF BEES ON FLOWERS. 425 



Since first noticing a few instances — which I set down as 

 chance exceptions to the rule — I have very frequently seen 

 examples of the bee's inconstancy. I scarcely ever watch them 

 now for more than a few moments without seeing some illustra- 

 tions of it. As an extreme case I may cite a bee which made 

 eleven changes for twenty-seven flowers visited. The following 

 are typical examples, and were noted during about half-an-hour's 

 observation in a garden. I could give many such from my 

 note-book : — 



(1). A bee goes from Veronica Buxbaumi to Stellaria media. 



(2). Another goes from Ranunculus ficaria to Scilla verna, 

 and back to R. ficaria. 



(3). Another goes from Veronica Buxbaumi to Stellaria media, 

 and back to V. Buxbaumi. 



(4) . Another goes from Ranunculus ficaria to Scilla verna. 



May we not infer that if the bee of to-day thus frequently 

 passes from species to species, its ancestors would also — and 

 even much more so — pass from variety to variety in time past ? 

 And if so, what becomes of the incipient species ? 



There is a passage in Darwin's * Cross- and Self- fertilisation 

 of Plants ' which indicates very clearly what the bee is expected 

 to do in making permanent the " incipient species," and which 

 will help us to an answer of the above question. I allude to his 

 remarks on that variety of Mimulus luteus which appeared in the 

 course of the experiments on cross- and self-fertilisation with 

 that plant : — 



" In the third and fourth generations of Mimulus luteus, a 

 tall variety, often alluded to, having large white flowers, blotched 

 with crimson, appeared amongst both the intercrossed and self- 

 fertilised plants. It prevailed in all the later self-fertilised 

 generations to the exclusion of every other variety, and trans- 

 mitted its characters faithfully, but disappeared from the inter- 

 crossed plants, owing, no doubt, to their characters being 

 repeatedly blended by crossing." 



Remembering that such variations as these are those upon 

 which the bee is supposed to have exerted its selective influence, 

 we see exactly what is required of it. These varieties must be 

 preserved from intercrossing, and the bee can only do this by 

 temporarily restricting itself to them. But this is not all. 

 Darwin has expressed the belief that even if individuals of the 



