112 MR. MILLER CHRISTY ON THE 
Mr. I. H. Burkill, speaking of the Yorkshire coast, says * that the nectar 
of the Primrose “is beyond the reach of all bees which are on the wing at 
its flowering season, except Bombus hortorum.” 
Mr. G. F. Scott Elliot states f that, in Dumfriesshire, the visits of 
Bombus hortorum to the Primrose are “regular and sufficient” to pollinate 
its flowers. 
Mr. Hugh Richardson, of Newcastle, informs me that, early in May 1881, 
he saw a humble-bee visit four flowers on three different plants growing near 
together ; also that he has seen a bee visit the * Hybrid Oxlip," P. vulgaris 
x veris 1. 
The Rev. E. Bell writes §:— 
In all our experience, we have never seen a humble-bee, either of the larger or of the 
smaller kinds, visiting the flowers. . . . Four insects, and four insects only, with a 
long proboscis, and each on a single occasion only, have we seen visiting the Primrose 
and probing for honey. .. . This was our experience after seeing and examining 
thousands and thousands, we might say millions, of the flowers. 
Such a meagre result suggests that the observer's eyesight was defective. 
The four species he saw were— 
HYMENOPTERA. 
Anthophora acervorum (=pilipes), seen on 27 April, visiting inconstantly 
both Primrose and Viola canina. 
DIPTERA. 
Bombylius discolor. 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
Gonepteryx rhamni, seen on 19 April. 
Pieris brassicæ, ditto. 
The evidence of the Rev. E. T. Daubeny is wholly negative. He says ||:— 
During the last two springs, I have kept this flower under special observation at all 
sorts of odd times, including evening and early night. No bees or flies with long 
proboscis have been seen by me visiting it by day, and no Noctue or thick-bodied 
moths by night. This is corroborated by two members of my family who have 
assisted in the matter. 
More complete and systematic than most of the foregoing were the 
observations of Prof. Weiss, made specially (as he says) to remove the 
“considerable amount of uncertainty [which] exists as to the manner in 
which the pollination of the Primrose is effected ” :— 
* Journ. of Botany, xxxv. (1897), p. 186. 
+ ‘Flora of Dumfriesshire,’ p. 114 (1896), 
i See Trans. Essex Field Club, iii. (1884), p. 195. 
§ ‘Primrose and Darwinism,’ pp. 30-31 (1902). 
|| Nature Notes, xvi. (1905), p. 186; see also p. 116. 
€ New Phytol. ii. (1903), pp. 99-105, and iii. (1904), pp. 168-170. 
