116 The Ottawa Naturalist. [Dec. 



FIRST RECORD OF AMARANTHUS SPINOSUS L. IN 



CANADA. 



Amaranthus spinosus L., the Thorny Amaranth, was sent 

 from Swansea, Ontario, August 23rd, 1912, to the Central 

 Experimental Farm, Ottawa, for identification. As far as we 

 are able to judge from the literature at hand and enquiries 

 made, we are of the opinion that this is the first record of this 

 weed in Canada. It is hardly a desirable immigrant, as it has 

 caused considerable annoyance to agriculturists beyond our 

 southern border. 



Like the other species of Amaranth, or Pigweed, it is a coarse 

 annual plant producing a large number of seeds. It differs 

 from them in having a pair of stout spines in the axil of each 

 leaf. These spines are from \ to J? inch in length, and no doubt 

 would be extremely irritating to horses working in a field 

 infested with this weed. A typical plant measured three feet 

 in height with a root ten inches long and one inch in diameter, 

 red in colour, graduating to white at the tip. The plant is 

 very bushy in general appearance; the particular specimen in 

 question had six branches from the base of the stem varying 

 in diameter from h to f inch thick. The flowers are monoecious, 

 the staminate being arranged in long and slender spikes and 

 the pistillate in clusters in the axils of the leaves. F. Fyles. 



BEE WITH POLLINIA ATTACHED TO ITS FEET. 



In the collection of insects in the Division of Entomology 

 at the Central Experimental Farm, is a specimen of Epeolus 

 mercator, a solitary bee, with the pollinia of a species of Asclepia, 

 probably .4. syriaca, attached to its feet. Each appendage 

 consists of a small hard implement with two arms which grips 

 the claws of the bee like a clip, and attached to this clip by- 

 ligature strands are the two pollinia which are in the form of 

 translucent, yellow, horny, shining leaflets about one millimetre 

 in length. 



The flower of the Asclepia produces an abundance of easily 

 accessible honey, and is consequently visited by many insects, 

 but it is smooth and slippery and offers no convenient place 

 for the insect to alight upon, so that the only way it can support 

 its weight is by inserting its claws in the slits between the 

 anthers where the clip-like bodies are situated. Endeavouring 

 to obtain a firm hold the insect inserts its claws in the slit in 

 the clip, and then when it with draws its foot the clip comes 

 with it and also the two pollinia of the adjacent stamens which 



