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136
My Studio Neighbors
·
W. Hamilton Gibson
114
As
he
advances
the
passage
becomes
narrower
and
narrower,
until
at
length
his
back
is
brought
against
the
overhanging
stigma
(Fig.
18
B).
So
narrow
is
the
pass
at
this
point
that
the
efforts
of
the
bee
are
distinctly
manifest
from
the
outside
in
the
distension
of
the
part
and
the
consequent
slight
change
in
the
droop
of
the
lip.
In
another
moment
he
has
passed
this
ordeal,
and
his
head
is
seen
protruding
from
the
window-like
opening
(A)
on
one
side
of
the
column.
But
his
struggles
are
not
yet
ended,
for
his
egress
is
still
slightly
checked
by
the
narrow
dimensions
of
the
opening,
and
also
by
the
detention
of
the
anther,
which
his
thorax
has
now
encountered.
A
strange
etiquette
this
of
the
cypripedium,
which
speeds
its
parting
guest
with
a
sticky
plaster
smeared
all
over
its
back.
As
the
insect
works
its
way
beneath
the
viscid
contact,
the
anther
is
seen
to
be
drawn
outward
upon
its
hinge,
and
its
yellow
contents
are
spread
upon
the
insect's
back
(Fig.
18
C),
verily
like
a
plaster.
Catching
our
bee
before
he
has
a
chance
to
escape
with
his
generous
floral
compliments,
we
unceremoniously
introduce
him
into
another
cypripedium
blossom,
to
which,
if
he
were
more
obliging,
he
would
naturally
fly.
He
loses
no
time
in
profiting
by
his
past
experience,
and
is
quickly
creeping
the
gantlet,
as
it
were,
or
braving
the
needle's
eye
of
this
narrow
passage.
His
pollen-smeared
thorax
is
soon
crowding
beneath
the
overhanging
stigma
again,
whose
forward-pointed
papillae
scrape
off
a
portion
of
it
(Fig.
18
B),
thus
insuring
the
cross-fertilizing
of
the
flower,
the
bee
receiving
a
fresh
effusion
of
cypripedium
compliments
piled
upon
the
first
as
he
says
"good-bye."
It
is
doubtful
whether
in
his
natural
life
he
ever
fully
effaces
the
telltale
effects
of
this
demonstrative
au
revoir.
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