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 bitten in the base of the tube by humble bees. The
difference in the length of the corolla in the two kinds of clover, which
determines the visits of the hive-bee, must be very trifling; for I have
been assured that when red clover has been mown, the flowers of the second
crop are somewhat smaller, and that these are visited by many hive-bees. 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 of the common hive-bee, and which
freely crosses with it, 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 visiting the flowers, 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 the hive-bees should
be enabled to suck its flowers. Thus I can understand how a flower and a
bee might slowly become, either simultaneously or one after the other,
modified and adapted to each other in the most perfect manner, by the
continued preservation of all the individuals which presented slight
deviations of structure mutually favourable to each other.
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