BEES AND FLOWERS. 2ig 
because in each of the little yellow florets in. the 
centre of the flower there is a drop of honey whicli 
would be quite spoiled if it were washed by the rain. 
And now you will see wby cup-shaped flowers so 
often d-oop their heads think of the harebell, the 
snowdrop, the lily-of-the-valley, the campanula, and 
a host of others ; how pretty they look with their 
bells hanging so modestly from the slender stalk ! 
They are bending down to protect the honey-glands 
within them, for if the cup became full of rain or dew 
the honey would be useless, and the insects would 
cease to visit them. 
But it is not only necessary that the flowers should 
keep their honey for the insects, they also have to 
take care and keep it for the right kind of insect. 
Ants are in many cases great enemies to them, for 
they like honey as much as bees and butterflies do, 
yet you will easily see that they are so small that if 
they creep into a flower they pass the anthers without 
rubbing against them, and so take the honey without 
doing any good to the plant. Therefore we find 
numberless contrivances for keeping the ants and other 
creeping insects away. Look for example at the hairy 
stalk of the primrose flower ; those little hairs are like 
a forest to a tiny ant, and they protect the flower from 
his visits. The Spanish catchfly (Silent otites), on the 
other hand, has a smooth, but very gummy stem, and 
on this the insects stick, if they try to climb. Slugs 
and snails too will often attack and bite flowers, unless 
they are kept away by thorns and bristles, such as we 
find on the teazel and the burdock. And so we are 
gradually learning that everything which a plant does 
