BEES AS FERTILISERS. 289 



been shut up together), in the very position to be 

 pollinated by a bee coming from a younger flower. 

 The pollen grains (D) demand some little attention. 

 These are filled with granular particles — the fovilla of 

 the older botanists — and at the angles the intine is 

 much thickened, which, as before explained, forms 

 the covering membrane for the pollen tube {pt, E). 



We now turn our attention to a plant yielding a 

 nectar which has qualities poisonous to human beings, 

 although it does not seem to be injurious to the bees 

 themselves. It is a relative of the rhododendrons 

 and azaleas — of bad repute also, so far as honey is con- 

 cerned, although in the same natural order (Ericacea?) 

 we find our invaluable heathers, whose luscious product 

 is so highly esteemed. I refer to the beautiful Kalmiu 

 latifolia (A, Fig. 58), selected both on account of its 

 peculiar adaptations to insect visits, and because all 

 apiculturists should know it as a plant to be avoided. 

 It is a native of North America, growing in damp 

 places, over very large areas, and is here well known 

 as a shrubbery plant of great attractiveness, bearing 

 pink flowers, with the structure of which every lover 

 of Nature should make himself acquainted. If a flower- 

 bud be cut across, the ten anthers will be found to 

 have their ends tucked into small cavities, or pockets 

 [ap, D), which appear as bosses on the outside of the 

 bud, while the filament lies almost in contact with 

 the corolla; but, as the latter expands (B), the filaments 

 are bent outwards and backwards, and so brought into 

 a condition of strain. Now, any sudden jar or rough 

 handling liberates the anther, when the elasticity of its 

 filament suddenly throws it up (as at a, C) towards the 



2 A 



