[Illustration: A GIANT HERB OF THE BANANA FAMILY, _Musaceæ_. It is the travelers’ tree (_Ravenala Madagascariensis_), the sheathing leafstalks of which hold considerable quantities of water--hence the name. Grown throughout the tropical world. (_Courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden._)] can go straight to the honey glands which are at the base of the flower, without touching the anthers. But their filaments are broadened out at the base, so much so that their edges touch. The honey glands are so placed that the insect must touch the broad bases of at least two filaments, between which, in fact, it must force its proboscis in order to reach the honey. The moment any particular pair of filaments are irritated by the bee, two pollen-dusted stamens fly out from their position among the petals and the anthers strike the bee with a sharp blow. Many observations prove that almost never does the bee go on with his honey sucking after this rude interruption, which has resulted in at least its head being dusted with pollen. The low, sticky stigma is so placed that it is one of the first things the bee’s head strikes as it reaches the center of the flower. Because of the position of the stamens, while they are undisturbed, it is impossible that pollen from them could have been brushed off at the bee’s entrance of the flower. And by an almost miraculous adjustment of the power of the blow by the irritated stamens, this drives off the intruder only after he has brushed his pollen-laden head over the stigma. His head at this stage is, of course, covered only with foreign pollen gathered elsewhere, but just as soon as the bee tries to get what he came for, sometimes even before he gets his reward, out fly the pair of stamens, thoroughly dusting the bee, and seeing to it that the blow is just sufficient to drive off the pollen-laden insect. No device to secure cross-fertilization could be more effective. If the blow of the stamen were only ever such a slight fraction less than it is, the bee would only stop a moment and then go on honey sucking; which, because of the release of the pollen by even the gentlest blow, would result in self-fertilization by the aid of the bee, rather than cross-fertilization. Very few, if any, bees will stand this gentle reminder to go, however, and it is a little curious that such intelligent creatures as they are supposed to be, should not realize that it is all the clever but quite harmless trick of an apparently still more intelligent flower to secure fertilization from any pollen but its own.