72 
THE STORY OR THE OAK TREE 
showiest flowers, my gay blue larkspur and my purple 
foxglove, and I can wager that the insects will not desert 
my flowers.” 
So Monsieur Plateau did as he had planned, and saw 
the insects come crawling and flying to his shorn flowers; 
indeed, the bees not only sucked the honey, but they 
circled around and above as though the poor naked 
blossoms were flaunting their loveliest dresses. So he 
knew the insects were guided more by the scent of the 
nectar than the color of the corolla. Plateau also noticed 
that some of his gayest flowers were totally avoided by 
insects, but when he placed nectar at the base, insects 
flew to them eagerly. Of course, Plateau did not decide 
from this that color played no part in attracting insects; 
Nature, he knew, never created all those gorgeous petals 
for no other use than beauty; he watched the white 
butterfly light upon the white spirea and the yellow 
butterfly seek out the golden bloom, but he knew that 
the beetles and bugs and flies—which after all do a bigger 
pollinating business than the bees and butterflies—are at¬ 
tracted solely by scent. 
Special gland-cells in the flower produce the nectar, 
and all plants with nectar have an odor, although we 
with our clumsy nostrils blunted by disuse may not be 
able to smell it. Flies, you know, are not very clean 
creatures, they are often attracted by unpleasant odors; 
