BEES AND FLOWERS. 2 1/ 
find the honey on the usual colour, and it was only 
when they were disappointed that they went off to 
the red. 
Is it not beautiful to think that the bright pleasant 
colours we love so* much in flowers, are not only orna- 
mental, but that they are useful and doing their part 
in keeping up healthy life in our world ? 
Neither must we forget what sweet scents can do. 
Have you never noticed the delicious smell which 
comes from beds of mignonette, thyme, rosemary, mint, 
or sweet alyssum, from the small hidden bunches of 
laurustinus blossom, or from the tiny flowers of the 
privet ? These plants have found another way of 
attracting the insects ; they have no need of bright 
colours, for their scent is quite as true and certain a 
guide. You will be surprised if you once begin to 
count them up, how many white and dull or dark- 
looking flowers are sweet-scented, while gaudy flowers, 
such as the tulip, foxglove and hollyhock, have little 
or no scent. And then, just as in the world we find 
some people who have everything to attract others to 
them, beauty and gentleness, cleverness, kindliness, and 
loving sympathy, so we find some flowers, like the 
beautiful lily, the lovely rose, and the delicate hyacinth, 
which have colour and scent and graceful shapes all 
combined. 
But we are not yet nearly at an end of the contri- 
vances of flowers to secure the visits of insects. Have 
you not observed that different flowers open and close 
at different times ? The daisy receives its name day's 
eye, because it opens at sunrise and closes at sunset, 
