BEHAVIOR OF SPIDERS AND OTHER INSECTS 425 



with long corollas ; in the fields of the other a drought had caused 

 the clover to have short corollas. In the second clover-field the 

 bees were so abundant that they stung the men who attempted 

 to mow the clover. In the first field there were practically no 

 bees. Evidently, the presence of the bees in the former field 

 was caused by neither the color nor by the odor, but by the 

 accessibility of the nectar. Lovell's paper closes with the fol- 

 lowing conclusions: — " Entomophilous flowers are usually char- 

 acterized by the possession of either bright coloration, or odor, 

 or both, although apparently to some extent the two qualities 

 are mutually exclusive. Both allurements are useful in attract- 

 ing the attention of insects; but the absence of either conspicu- 

 ousness, or odor, or both, will not necessarily cause a flower 

 to be neglected if it contains an ample supply of nectar or pollen. 

 But under similar conditions, small, green, odorless flowers, even 

 if rich in nectar, will not be discovered as quickly as nectiferous 

 flowers, which are conspicuous or agreeably scented. On the 

 other hand, the possession of both color and odor will not ensure 

 frequent visits in the absence of available food materials. The 

 experiments afford no evidence that bees visit flowers for the 

 purpose of experiencing an aesthetic pleasure. Insects, especially 

 bees, occasionally examine the neglected conspicuous flowers of 

 cultivation; but, obtaining no food materials, or very little, they 

 do not often repeat their visits. Many neglected flowers are 

 pleasantly scented and the addition of another agreeable odor 

 is neither necessary nor beneficial. When odoriferous fruit syrups 

 are introduced into conspicuous flowers, commonly neglected, a 

 group of miscellaneous insects, especially Diptera, will be at- 

 tracted; but the inference that, therefore, color is no advantage 

 and an agreeable odor is required is fallacious. For the intro- 

 duction of an odorless syrup into similar flowers will induce 

 insect visits in large numbers; also when flowers, with the nectar 

 inaccessible to honey bees and, consequently, seldom visited by 

 them, have the nectaries artificially punctured, or the floral 

 tubes shortened by drought, they are then visited by bees in 

 countless thousands without the addition of either an agreeable 

 odor or a sweet liquid. Flowers which in one locality freely 

 secrete nectar and are visited by numerous insects are sometimes 

 in other localities nectarless and almost entirely neglected. In- 

 sects, therefore, perceive the colors and forms of neglected flowers, 



