69 



taining the nectar surreptitiously. On three occasions, however, this 

 insect was seen to visit the flowers normally, and it must be perfect- 

 ly able to obtain the nectar from their mouth. The flowers of Sym- 

 phoricarpus racemosus were also frequently found with similar per- 

 forations. This, as is well known, is a species largely fertilized by 

 wasps ; but, though I watched carefully, I could not catch any in- 

 sect making or using the holes; and, in ascribing this also to the 

 hornet, I am simply stating what appears most probable to me. 

 Ants, too, are sometimes guilty of a similar misdemeanor. The 

 species known as T^^/v/z/V^/z/i*^^ has been repeatedly seen to gnaw 

 through the fleshy calyx of Ribes Cynoshati^ at about the point where 

 the flowers are perforated by the hornet. The openings made by the 

 ant, however, are larger and more irregular than those described 

 above, and not infrequently the insect, attracted by the sugar with 

 which this part of the calyx is gorged, eats away large parts of the 

 flower. A case of perforation of the corolla, solely for access to the 

 nectar contained within, came to my notice in Brooklyn, N. Y., in 

 Sept., 1880. The fine pubescence of the corolla of Salvia splendens 

 appears to be quite efficient in preventing creeping insects from 

 reaching the mouth of the flower. A small ant, the name of which 

 I have not been able to obtain, finding itself almost unable to enter 

 in any other way, and wanting the nectar, gnawed rather large, ir- 

 regular holes through the corolla just at the end of the calyx,* 

 through which it entered and feasted upon the sweets within. Large 

 numbers of the flowers were perforated, and the ants were repeatedly 

 seen to make and use these openings. 



In addition to these, there is one other class of animals which oc- 

 casionally rob flowers of their nectar through perforations which they 

 make for that purpose, namely, birds, according to Darwin. f Prof. 

 Beal has found the golden currant [Ribes aiireiwi) perforated by or- 

 ioles, and readers of Nature and Science Gossip will recall numerous 

 notes on the piercing and tearing of flowers by sparrows. There are, 

 however, cases in which birds that are adapted to fertilize flowers 

 covet the sweets of some whose nectar they obtain more easily by 

 perforating them than by working in the proper way. My friend, 

 Prof. W. A. Henry, tells me that he has seen in Ohio numbers of 

 flowers of the trumpet creeper {Tecoma^radicans) perforated through 

 calyx and corolla by birds, as he believes, and I should not be sur- 

 prised if the misdemeanor were to. be fixed upon the ruby-throated 

 hummlng-bircf#- DarwinJ states that while long-beaked humming- 

 birds visit the flowers of Bnigmansia normally, some of the short- 

 beaked species perforate them; 'and they frequently pierce the tubu- 

 lar flowers of Tacsonia, 



From the facts stated, it appears that under some circumstances 

 humble-bees, hive-bees, wasps, ants and birds perforate flowers in 

 order to rob them of their nectar."^ 



Wm. Trelease. 



*' American Naturalist/ Apr., i88r, p. 297, Fig. I. 

 f Cross and Self-Fertilization,' p. 432. 

 XL c, p. 371, note. 





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