282 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



while, has grown longer, and the pistil, now adhesive 

 and receptive, assumes the position, in relation to the 

 rest of the blossom, which the anthers have successively 

 occupied. A bee flitting from flower to flower, loading 

 her legs with pollen, and her honey sac with nectar, 

 passes, with a well-powdered breast, from the younger 

 condition (A) to the older (B), and of necessity presses 

 the pollen grains she carries on to the upstanding 

 stigma, and cross-fertilisation is accomplished — the 

 only possible fertilisation, since the two genders do 

 not co-exist, the blossoms, during their latter period, 

 being exclusively female. 



It is well deserving of notice, that the three lower 

 petals (one of which has been removed in the Figure) 

 have their edges cut into a number of narrow strips 

 (h), which are turned so as to stand nearly upright. 

 These refuse contact with water, and perfectly protect 

 the nectar from dilution by rain, as may be easily 

 seen by sprinkling water heavily upon one of the 

 blossoms ; but they also appear to serve another 

 purpose, in compelling the visiting insect to keep its 

 thorax sufficiently up to bring its hairs on to the 

 stigma. Looking at the blossom now in the front, 

 we observe that the lines on the several petals, ac- 

 cording to a beautiful and general law in the floral 

 world, point to the cavity in which the nectar lies, 

 so that these decorations, enhancing the flower so 

 much in the estimation of the florist, are, really, so 

 to speak, guide-posts to the insect visitor. 



The sequential movements of the anthers of the 

 tropasolum are common to many blossoms, and the 

 explanation now given will make the delphinium 



