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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
113
I
have
repeatedly
examined
the
flowers
of
C.
acaule
in
their
haunts,
have
observed
groups
wherein
every
flower
still
retained
its
pollen,
others
where
one
or
both
pollen
masses
had
been
withdrawn,
and
in
several
instances
associated
with
them
I
have
observed
the
inflated
lip
most
outrageously
bruised,
torn,
and
battered,
and
occasionally
perforated
by
a
large
hole.
I
had
observed
these
facts
in
boyhood.
The
inference,
of
course,
was
that
some
insect
had
been
guilty
of
the
mutilation;
but
not
until
I
read
Darwin's
description
of
the
cross-fertilization
of
this
species
did
I
realize
the
full
significance
of
these
telltale
evidences
of
the
escape
of
the
imprisoned
insect.
Since
that
time,
many
years
ago,
I
have
often
sat
long
and
patiently
in
the
haunt
of
the
cypripedium
awaiting
a
natural
demonstration
of
its
cross-fertilization,
but
as
yet
no
insect
has
rewarded
my
devotion.
At
length,
in
hopelessness
of
reward
by
such
means,
I
determined
to
see
the
process
by
more
prosaic
methods.
Gathering
a
cluster
of
the
freshly
opened
flowers,
which
still
retained
their
pollen,
I
took
them
to
my
studio.
I
then
captured
a
bumblebee,
and
forcibly
persuaded
him
to
enact
the
demonstration
which
I
had
so
long
waited
for
him
peaceably
to
fulfil.
Taking
him
by
the
wings,
I
pushed
him
into
the
fissure
by
which
he
is
naturally
supposed
to
enter
without
persuasion.
He
was
soon
within
the
sac,
and
the
inflexed
wings
of
the
margin
had
closed
above
him,
as
shown
in
section,
Fig.
17.
He
is
now
enclosed
in
a
luminous
prison,
and
his
buzzing
protests
are
audible
and
his
vehemence
visible
from
the
outside
of
the
sac.
Let
us
suppose
that
he
at
length
has
become
reconciled
to
his
condition,
and
has
determined
to
rationally
fulfil
the
ideal
of
his
environment,
as
he
may
perhaps
have
already
done
voluntarily
before.
The
buzzing
ceases,
and
our
bee
is
now
finding
sweet
solace
for
his
incarceration
in
the
copious
nectar
which
he
finds
secreted
among
the
fringy
hairs
in
the
upper
narrowed
portion
of
the
flower,
as
shown
at
Fig.
18
A.
Having
satiated
his
appetite,
he
concludes
to
quit
his
close
quarters.
After
a
few
moments
of
more
vehement
futile
struggling
and
buzzing,
he
at
length
espies,
through
the
passage
above
the
nectary
fringe,
a
gleaming
light,
as
from
two
windows
(A).
Towards
these
he
now
approaches.
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