BEES, POLLINATION, SAFE SEX, AND SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES
 
Imagine my interest in reading Universite Laval Evenements (the
university's newspaper) about safe sex as illustrated by a drone
bumblebee visiting a flower! This isn't the first time I have
encountered the use of a pollination theme for illustrating the
point, but I wonder why?
 
Do insects as the flying intromittent "organisms" of many flower-
ing plants convey some message of purity to sexual reproduction?
If so, perhaps the myth should be exploded!
 
Pollinators are the vectors of a variety of plant diseases which
affect the latters' sexual organs and reproductive success. The
most noteworthy is the association of Ustilago violacea with
Silene and its pollinating insects. Mummyberry fungus, Monilinia
spp. are transmitted to flowers by pollinators. Fire blight may
be so transmitted, too. There is an interesting yeast, Metschnikowia
reukaufii which inhibits the germination of pollinia of milkweeds
and is transmitted by anthophilous insects. Etc.
 
Then, in the words of Shakespeare from A Midsummer Night's Dream
dare I quote "Where the bee sucks, There suck I"
 
I think the image noted at the start is interesting. I wonder how
it was dreamed up, but it would not seem to be accurate in its
implications.
 
Perhaps, one of our correspondents at U Laval would care to reply!
Evenements of 12 Mars, 1992 article by Jean Hamann.