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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
204
Now
suppose
that
a
bee
comes
to
the
flower.
The
honey
she
has
to
fetch
lies
inside
the
tube,
and
the
one
stamen
being
loose
she
is
able
to
get
her
proboscis
in.
but
if
she
is
to
be
of
any
use
to
the
flower
she
must
uncover
the
pollen-dust.
See
how
cunningly
the
flower
has
contrived
this.
In
order
to
put
her
head
into
the
tube
the
bee
must
stand
upon
the
wings,
and
her
weight
bends
them
down.
but
they
are
locked
to
the
keel
by
the
knob
fitting
in
the
hole,
and
so
the
keel
is
pushed
down
too,
and
the
sticky
pollen-
dust
is
uncovered
and
comes
right
against
the
stomach
of
the
bee
and
sticks
there!
As
soon
as
she
has
done
feeding
and
flies
away,
up
go
the
wings
and
the
keel
with
them,
covering
up
any
pollen
that
remains
ready
for
next
time.
Then
when
the
bee
goes
to
another
flower,
as
she
touches
the
stigma
as
well
as
the
pollen,
she
leaves
some
of
the
foreign
dust
upon
it,
and
the
flower
uses
that
rather
than
its
own,
because
it
is
better
for
its
seeds.
If
however
no
bee
happens
to
come
to
one
of
these
flowers,
after
a
time
the
stigma
becomes
sticky
and
it
uses
its
own
pollen:
and
this
is
perhaps
one
reason
why
the
bird's-foot
trefoil
is
so
very
common,
because
it
can
do
its
own
work
if
the
bee
does
not
help
it.
Now
we
come
lastly
to
the
Orchis
flower.
Mr.
Darwin
has
written
a
whole
book
on
the
many
curious
and
wonderful
ways
in
which
orchids
tempt
bees
and
other
insects
to
fertilize
them.
We
can
only
take
the
simplest,
but
I
think
you
will
say
that
even
this
blossom
is
more
like
a
conjuror's
box
than
you
would
have
supposed
it
possible
that
a
flower
could
be.
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