BEES AND FLOWERS. 
221 
Fig. 58. 
which open by night, and in these they would be useless, 
for the insects would not see them. 
When the geranium first opens, all its ten stamens 
are lying flat on ftie corolla or coloured crown, as in 
the left-hand flower in Fig. 58, and then the bee 
cannot get at the 
honey. But in a 
short time five sta- 
mens begin to raise 
themselves and cling 
round the stigma or 
knob at the top of the 
seed-vessel, as in the 
middle flower. Now 
you would think they 
would leave their dust 
there. But no ! the 
stigma is closed up 
so tight that the dust 
cannot get on to the 
sticky part. Now, 
however, the bee can 
get at the honey- 
glands on the out- 
side of the raised 
stamens ; and as he 
sucks it, his back 
touches the anthers or dust-bags, and he carries off the 
pollen. Then, as soon as all their dust is gone, these 
five stamens fall down, and the other five spring 
up. Still, however, the stigma remains closed, and 
the pollen of these stamens, too, may be carried away 
Geranium sylvaticum, the Wood 
Geranium. 
In the left-hand flower the stamens are 
all lying down. In the middle flower five 
stamens clasp the stigma. In the right- 
hand flower the stigma is open after all 
the stamens have fallen. 
