The Life of the Individual 119 
such flowers than on other flowers a quarter or half mile 
away. 
On one occasion, the author watched a head of white 
clover within two feet of a hive entrance. This flower was 
without a visitor for so long that it was almost concluded 
that there must be no nectar in it. All this time hundreds 
of bees were flying to and from the hive, many of them pass¬ 
ing within six inches of the flower. Finally, a bee flew from 
the entrance directly to this flower and worked for a con¬ 
siderable time, sucking nectar, and, evidently getting a 
sufficient quantity after a time, it returned to the hive. That 
there was considerable nectar present in this flower is shown 
by the fact that other visits were made to this flower within 
the next half-hour from the same hive. At no time, in an 
hour’s observation, were two bees on the head at once. 
Furthermore, when a bee flies from the hive, the flight 
is usually not uncertain but is directed toward a source of 
supply. It is usually stated that bees carry either nectar 
or pollen back to the hive but not both, but this is not cor¬ 
rect. It may perhaps be stated that they usually gather 
from one species only on any given trip. 1 Some additional 
1 This feature is of the highest importance in a consideration of the 
value of the bee in the cross-pollination of plants. Since the trips are 
usually confined to one species, the beneficial results are increased many 
fold, for if they wandered promiscuously from one to the other species 
they would thereby scatter pollen where it would be ineffectual. That 
they fail to discriminate among various varieties may be considered as 
not a misfortune since certain varieties are pollinated better with pollen 
from another variety. 
Bui man (1902, The constancy of the bee, Zoologist, Ser. 4, VI, pp. 
220-222) quotes from various authors to the effect that bees keep to one 
species on a single trip from the hive, and even “as long as they can, before 
going to another species” (Darwin, Fertilization of Plants, p. 415). This 
constancy is considered most highly developed in the honeybee but is 
claimed for certain Diptera (Bennett, Proc. Linn. Soc. Zool. XVII, p. 184). 
Ord (1897, The constancy of the bee, Trans, nat. hist. soc. Glasgow, n. s., 
V, Pt. 1, pp. 85-88) undertook to examine this as “one of the great pillars of 
the Law of Natural Selection” and finds that “only about 30% have 
proved inconstant while they were under my eye. ... In most cases 
when I was able to follow the bee for any considerable time, I found that, 
sooner or later, a change was made.” lie then records numerous observa¬ 
tions which show inconstancy in a marked degree as from Leguminosai to 
