322 



BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



would have been stereotyped unalterably, ever me- 

 chanically giving repetition to identical phenomena. 



A new consideration now awaits us : Bees are not 

 only florists— they are fruit-producers ; our orchard 

 and fruit crops, and leguminous seeds, constituting 

 together no inconsiderable fraction of human food, 

 are very largely dependent upon insect agency, 

 and the fee paid for professional attendance on the 

 part of the little inoculator is nectar. Let us take, as 

 an example, the apple, a fruit which, from a utilitarian 



Fig. 69.— Apple (Pyrus Malus, Order Rosacece) Blossom, and Section of 

 Fruit. 



A, Blossom (Natural Size)— s, Stigmas ; a, Anthers ; p, Petal ; ca, Calyx ; 

 s', Sepal ; d, Dissepiment. B, Section through partly developed Fruit — 

 /', /, Fertilised Carpels ; u, Unfertilised ditto. 



point of view, has, in this country, no equal. Its 

 pretty blossom carries five stigmas, three of which 

 remain in the section A, Fig. 69 ; to each stigma 

 belongs a dissepiment, or division, of the compounded 

 ovary constituting the core of the fruit. The stigma 

 comes to maturity before the anthers, as in Scrophu- 

 laria nodosa. Bees seeking nectar get dusted com- 

 pletely, and then transfer the granules to the stigmas 

 of neighbouring blossoms, while they are constantly 

 at work in packing the excess into their corbiculse. 



