Rensselaer Democrat, Volume 1, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 April 1898 — Bumblebees in Australia. [ARTICLE]

Bumblebees in Australia.

Many years ago the farmers of Australia imported bumble bees from England aud set them free in their clover fields. Before the arrival of the bees clover did not flourish in Ajistialia, but nfter tlieir coming the farmers bad no more difficulty on that score. Mr. Darwin had shown that bumble-bees were the ouly insects fond of clover nectar which possessed a proboscis sufficiently long to reach the bottom of the lona tube-like flowers, and, at the same time, a body heavy enough tp bend down the elover-head so that the pollen would fall on the insect's back, and thus be carried off to fertilize other flowers of the same species. According to a writer in Popular Science News, the bumble-bee sent to Australia cost the farmers there about half a dollar apiece, but they proved to be worth the price. Lloyd's London Weekly.