| → and so have a better chance of living and leaving descendants. 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| than others; and thus the communities to which they belonged would flourish and throw off many swarms inheriting the same peculiarities. 1869 1872 |
|
| → offer in vain 1859 1860 1861 1866 1872 |
| in vain offer 1869 |
|
| → which had been bitten 1866 |
| OMIT 1869 1872 |
|
| → in the two kinds of clover, which 1866 1869 1872 |
| which 1861 |
|
| → and which freely crosses with 1866 1869 |
| of 1872 |
|
| → is 1866 1869 |
| and which freely crosses with it, is 1872 |
|
|
that
would be able to obtain
food more
→and so have a better chance of living and leaving descendants. Its descendants would probably inherit a tendency to a similar slight deviation of structure. The tubes of the
of the common red and incarnate clovers (Trifolium pratense and incarnatum) do not on a hasty glance appear to differ in length; yet the hive-bee can easily suck the nectar out of the incarnate clover, but not out of the common red clover, which is visited by humble-bees alone; so that whole fields of the red clover
→offer in vain
an abundant supply of precious nectar to the hive-bee. That this nectar is much liked by the hive-bee is certain; for I have repeatedly seen, but only in the autumn, many hive-bees sucking the flowers through holes
the base of the tube
→which had been bitten
by humble-bees. The
in the length of the corolla
→in the two kinds of clover, which
determines the visits of the
must be very trifling; for I have been
that when
red clover has been mown, the flowers of the second crop are somewhat smaller, and that these are
visited by
I do not know whether this statement is accurate; nor whether another published statement can be trusted, namely, that the Ligurian bee, which is generally considered a mere variety
→and which freely crosses with
the common hive-bee,
→is
able to reach and suck the nectar of the
red clover. Thus, in a country where this kind of clover abounded, it might be a great advantage to the hive-bee to have a slightly longer or differently constructed proboscis. On the other hand, as the fertility of this clover absolutely depends on bees
the
if humble-bees were to become rare in any country, it might be a great advantage to the plant to have a shorter or more deeply divided corolla, so that
should
|
