. The natural history of the farm; a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature. Natural history. Fig. 104. Meadow-sweet with its feast arranged in flat-topped clusters, either heads or umbels. The clustering of the flowers is directly related to visitation by insects, the distributors of their pollen. Close grouping greatly economizes labor on the part of their visitors. A bee must pass from one pea flower to others by separate flights, but a score of flowers massed together into a clover head may be visited without interven- ing flight, and with only
. The natural history of the farm; a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature. Natural history. Fig. 104. Meadow-sweet with its feast arranged in flat-topped clusters, either heads or umbels. The clustering of the flowers is directly related to visitation by insects, the distributors of their pollen. Close grouping greatly economizes labor on the part of their visitors. A bee must pass from one pea flower to others by separate flights, but a score of flowers massed together into a clover head may be visited without interven- ing flight, and with only a slight tiuning of the body about while standing on the top of the cluster. WhUe insects are most abundant in the summer season, flowers most abound then, also; and there is pic. 105 competition for the services of the bees. Their Ratronage is desired. So the flowers in their natural evolution have perfected ways of drawing visitors, that singularly parallel the methods of the comer grocery in drawing trade. First, they get in a stock of desirable goods—^nectar and pollen. Then they advertise that they have got it and are ready for business. They advertise with bright colors and attractive odors. Their signs are showy corollas that often bear special "guide marks" about the entrance. Then they array their wares to suit their visitors' convenience. They set their open corollas all out in line on a nar- row spike as at a common counter; or, they ^ kn^-^athCTiS"' Spread them out flatwise in a head or corymb hone^'bS*^^ or umbel, as on a common table. This last Side view of the ab- domen of a bee, showing pollen Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Needham, James G. (James George), 1868-1956. Ithaca, N. Y. , The Comstock Publishing Company
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectnaturalhistory, booky
