Proboscis capable of sucking the Nectar of 

 Angrecum sesquipedale 1 ). 



Aus einem Briefe an Herm. Muller vom 11. April 1873. 



Mit i Textfigur. 



Mr. W. A. Forbes , in the number for June 1 2 started the question, 

 whether moths are known to inhabit Madagascar with proboscides capable 

 of such an expansion, as to obtain the last drops of the nectar secreted in the 

 lower part of the whiplike nectaries of Angrecum sesquipedale. 



As long a direct answer 

 to this question has not been 

 given, it may be of some interest 

 to state in general the existence 

 of moths provided with probos- 

 cides sufficiently long for the 

 honey-spurs in question. 



Some days ago I received 

 a letter from my brother, Fritz 

 Muller (Itajahy, Prov. Sa. Ca- 

 tharina, Brazil), in which he says : 

 "I recently caught a Sphinx (not 

 determinable b}^ Burmeister's 

 "Brazilian Sphingidse"), the pro- 

 boscis of which has a length of 

 about 0,25 metres a lenght not 

 approached by any honey-tube 

 of this country known to me. 

 I enclose the proboscis." Being 

 unable to get the name of this species of Sphinx, I append the illustration of its 

 proboscis, magnified in the proportion 7:1. This proboscis, in its contorted con- 

 dition forming a roll of 10 11 millimetres in diameter, and showing at least 20 

 elegant windings, in its expanded condition attains a length of between 10 and n 

 inches, and would consequently be adapted to the nectaries of Angrecum sesqui- 

 pedale, which have been found by Darwin u^ inches long, with only the lower 

 inch and a half filled with nectar. Darwin indeed says, with regard to the fer- 

 tilisation of Angrecum sesquipedale (p. 198 of his work on Orchids): "there must 

 be moths with proboscides capable of extension to a length of between 10 and 

 1 1 inches." 2 ) 



Lippstadt, July i Hermann Muller. 



1) Nature 1873. Vol. VIII. p. 223. 



2) 2"d edition p. 163. Der Herausgeher. 



