348 ANNUAL RECORD OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 



the flies flying and buzzing continually, and other insects in- 

 cessantly climbing and falling back. It is only after being 

 exhausted by their efforts that they eventually get slimed 

 by the liquid at the base of the leaf, and stupor then over- 

 takes them. 



I have seen ants, and occasionally flies also, fall immedi- 

 ately as they entered the leaves before they could have eaten 

 honey. 



I remark, further, that if this sweet internal secretion be 

 stupefying, that outside on the wing (the "trail") must be 

 equally so, and therefore insects ought to be found at the 

 base of the leaves on the ground. I have never mvself seen 

 such, nor have I ever heard of any other persons observing 

 dead or intoxicated insects outside (J. H. Mellichamp, Bluff- 

 ton, S. C, in American Naturalist). 



Fertilization of Gentiana Audrewsii. 



Humble-bees are in the habit of entering bodily into the 

 flower of this gentian, forcing open the mouth of the corolla 

 to do so where this is closed (as it is in the absence of sun- 

 shine), and the anthers open before the stigmas separate to 

 expose the pollen - receiving surface ; so it is evident that 

 cross - fertilization is provided for. Our correspondent, Mr. 

 M. W. Vandenberg, of Fort Edward, 1ST. Y., communicates the 

 result of some observations which show that this flower has 

 likewise an arrangement for self-fertilization. The short tube 

 of cohering and extrorsely opening anthers is higher than the 

 stigma when the blossom first opens. The pistil afterwards 

 lengthens, so that its apex protrudes; the broad and introrse 

 stigmas now separate, at first moderately, but at length they 

 diverge strongly and become revolute, so as to bring a por- 

 tion of the broad stisnuatic surface into contact with the 

 outer face of the anther tube, which usually is still covered 

 with abundance of pollen. The pollen appears to retain its 

 freshness for a long time, and in this slow movement of revo- 

 lution of the stigmas they are seen to take up considerable 

 masses of the moist pollen. Those stigmas, therefore, which 

 have failed to receive extraneous pollen from bees during 

 the first day or two of anthesis will afterwards secure it 

 from their own anthers. "Get fertilized cross fertilized if 

 you can, self-fertilized if you must is nature's golden rule 

 for flowers" (A. Gray, in American Naturalist). 



