Of course it is the bee that is feeding, though
the flower would seem to be masticating the bee with the keenest
relish The counterfeit tortoise soon disgorges its lively
mouthful, however, and away flies the bee, carrying pollen on his
velvety back to rub on the stigma of an older flower. After the
anthers have shed their pollen and become effete, the stigma
matures, and occupies their place. By this time the flower
presents a wider entrance, and as the moisture-loving plant keeps
the nectaries abundantly filled, what is to prevent insects too
small to come in contact with anthers and stigma in the roof from
pilfering to their heart's content? The woolly throat discourages
many, to be sure; but the turtle-head, like its cousins the
beard-tongues, has a sterile fifth stamen, whose greatest use is
to act as a drop-bar across the base of the flower. The
long-tongued bumblebee can get his drink over the bar, but
smaller, unwelcome visitors are literally barred out.
If bees are the preferred visitors of the turtle-head, why do we
find the Baltimore butterfly, that very beautiful, but freaky,
creature (Melitaea phaeton) hovering near? - that is, when we
find it at all; for where it is present, it swarms, and keeps
away from other localities altogether.
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