_ grown and the honey secreted.” . . . “The insects, as far as I 
fast.” That this-is the case, 
side. The fibres of cotton, o 
34 
Co., N. Y., a package of Dicentra cucullaria, DC., the spurs of 
which had been perforated and cut by humble-bees. We take the 
liberty of making extracts from the letter of the lady who sent 
them. “C. went to the woods, and spent several hours watching 
the bees. The woods were full of Dicentras this spring. He could 
not find a spike of any species on which there were not oné or more 
punctured flowers. He said the bee lighted on the lowest flower, 
cut a small hole in the spur with his mandibles, inserted his pro- 
boscis, took a sip of the honey, then proceeded to the second flower, 
where the same operation was performed ; then to a third, when he 
captured him. [The bee was sent us. ] He saw several humble-bees 
performing this labor, and many honey-bees sucking the honey; 
but in no instance did he see the honey-bee make the incision, and 
these were the only insects which visited the flowers during his 
stay. My Dicentra spectabilis and D. eximia are now in full bloom. 
The flowers are greatly disfigured by these punctures. Yesterday 
T observed a bee for a long time while taking his dinner. The spurs 
of three or four of the lowest flowers on the long racemes were 
already punctured. He would fly to a flower, place his feet on each 
side of the spur, either to ‘press up the honey or to ‘hold on’ better, 
insert his tongue for a few seconds, and then fly to the next. Every 
insertion of his tongue enlarged the orifice ; but in no ease did he 
make a fresh incision until the supply of nectar was apparently ex- 
hausted. Then, with his strong mandibles, he would nip a hole in 
a perfect flower as quickly as you could with a pair of scissors. 
They appeared to know the exact moment when the flower was full- 
can discover, do not visit the Adlumia and Fumitory.” WM tt, | 
5. Fertilization of Asclepias.—I notice in the J uly No. of the Ameri- 
can Agriculturist, in an article on this subject, the statement that 
_ “the point where the filaments or strings which connect them [the 
pollen-masses] join is very sticky.” In the American Naturalist, 
©) NOLL, pp. 69, Th, the gland is called “viscid” and “adhesive.” In 
Vol. II., p. 665, of the same work, the pollen is said to adhere “by - 
a glutinous substance.” In Vol. ITI., p. 109, J. Kirkpatrick, who 
seems to have looked carefully into the matter, attributes the adhe- 
sion to the fact that “a hair or claw [?] entering the cleft becomes 
my own observations, as given on p. 388 
of the same volume, confirm. T have never noticed any adhesiveness 
on the outside of the gland. If a very fine hair is drawn through | 
the cleft, it is caught and lifts out the pollen ; but if the hair be too 
coarse to enter the cleft, I have never found it to adhere to the out 
2 fib r the fine long hairs on many plants— 
_ the Asclepias itself—are best for this experiment—none more so than — 
the long, separate hairs on the petiole of Ambrosia artemisicfolia.— 
__ I have never been able to determine how the hair is held in the 
_ gland, whether by some viscid substance contained in it, or by mée- 
chanical pressure, and would gladly learn. There is one fact con- 
nected with this subject which I do not remember to have seen 
_ noticed, and which makes the analogy between the Asclepiads and 
* 
