158 JOHN H. LOVELL 



keel, while another sought for nectar under the calyx lobes, at 

 one time standing on the back of the standard. None of their 

 efforts proved effectual. 



Neither can any of our Maine bumblebees depress the carina. 

 On September 26 I saw a female Bombus fervidus visit illegiti- 

 mately twenty flowers in succession. Standing sideways on the 

 flower, clinging to one of the wings and the calyx, she inserted 

 her tongue in a crevice between the standard and a wing petal. 

 Subsequently she robbed many other flowers of their nectar in 

 the same way. The nectar was also obtained in a similar manner 

 by a worker of Bombus consimilis.* 



Until the summer of 1912 I did not suppose that any of our 

 indigenous bees could properly pollinate the flowers; but on 

 August 17 and September 15 and 22, a female leaf -cutting bee, 

 Megachile latimanus, was observed to visit the flowers legiti- 

 mately. She manifested so little fear that I was able to watch 

 her movements at close range. The stigma protruded for a 

 long distance, touching the abdominal scopa on one side and on 

 the other the brush of hairs on the tibia of the posterior leg. 

 Both brushes were thickly covered with pollen. In England, also, 

 according to Punnett, a species of Megachile is able to depress 

 the carina. =e Muller saw only Anthidium manicatum sucking 

 on the flowers. 



Neither color alone in the garden pea nor color and odor 

 combined in the sweet pea will induce frequent visits, if nothing 

 is to be gained thereby; but, if an odorless sweet syrup is placed 

 on the flowers, bees will resort to them in large numbers. On 

 the morning of August 16 I placed syrup of sugar on a number 

 of sweet pea blossoms. Three times during the afternoon I 

 found a worker of Bombus consimilis feeding on the syrup — ■ 

 probably the same bee in each instance. On the 17th I renewed 

 the supply of syrup, and at about 12:30 p. m., a honey-bee dis- 

 covered it; an hour later there was three honey-bees. Before 

 the close of the afternoon, four honey-bees and two bumblebees 

 were sucking the syrup, or flying about the flowers to which it 



*Bombns consimilis Cr. is doubtless correctly regarded as a synonym of B. vagans 

 Sm., but as the local specimens agree exactly with a set of the three forms of B. 

 consimilis obtained from the Ac. Nat. Sci. Phil, the name has been permitted to 

 stand in this paper. 



» Punnett, R. C, " Mendelism," p. 188. 



