CHAPTER XVIII
INTERRELATION OF BEES AND PLANTS
HONEY-FLOWERS
The facts revealed by science are not always beautiful, however interesting they may be. But the discovery of the interrelation of flowers and insects, that partnership which has existed so long that it has modified both partners, seems to belong to the realm of art or poetry rather than to that of science. Since plants must needs spend their lives where they are developed from seeds, they may not roam abroad like animals to seek their mates. But this is a difficulty which they readily overcome, through sending their messages by the uneasy, flying insects; and of all these messengers, the bee is surely the flowers' favourite. Its fuzzy body, admirably adapted to be a pollen brush, its swift wings and its sedulous attention to business, all tend to make it the most important of the flower partners. Thus, especially for the bee, have thousands of flower species developed nectar, in pockets placed cunningly to entice her to take upon herself a pollen load. And for countless ages the flowers have painted their petals various hues and shed on the atmosphere their perfume, to advertise to the bee-world that they had pollen and nectar to spare.
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