CHAPTER XV. 



BEES AND FLOWERS MUTUALLY COMPLEMENTARY. 



Outline of Subject- — Old Errors and Modern Dis- 

 coveries — Cleistogamous Flowers — The Part played 

 by Bees and Insects — The Banquet offered by the 

 Flower — The Parts of the Blossom — The Ovule and 

 Ovary- — Embryo Sac — Formation of Embryonal 

 Vesicle — Pollen: its Structure — Pollen Tubes — 

 Impregnation — Anatropous Ovule — Union of Nuclei 

 - — Formation of Embryo and Seed — Moncecious and 

 Dioecious Plants — Aucuba japonica — Hazel Nut — 

 Nectaries — Extra Floral Nectaries — Differences 

 between Nectar and Honey — Position of Nectary — 

 Nectar Cells : Microscopic Examination of; In 

 Pelargonium and Hyacinth — Aphide Hojiey. 

 The fact that bees gather both pollen and nectar 

 from blossoms has already been considered ; but we 

 have yet to learn, why the wants of bees, in all their 

 o-enera and species, are supplied by the floral world. 

 The answer to this inquiry brings before us a new 

 meaning to the existence of all these insects, as 

 a part of that frame of nature in which nothing 

 is really isolated, although the bonds of mutual de- 

 pendence may not always be apparent. Let us, first, 



