86 



Illey Some Interrelations of 



ami 



THE ACTS OF POLLINATION AND OVIPOSITIOX. 



I hiving thus drawn attention to the most characteristic struct- 

 ures of Pronuba, we shall better understand the following account 

 of the acts of pollination and oviposition which I quote from an 

 article recently prepared for the Annual Report of the Missouri 

 Botanic Garden : 



" Though all the acts of the female are 

 nocturnal, it is not at all difficult to follow 

 them with a lantern, for, albeit ordinarily 

 shy, she may be closely approached when 

 about to oviposit. Her activity begins 

 \ soon after dark, but consists, at first, in as- 

 Sr..:'\ siduously collecting a load of pollen. She 

 j \ may be seen running up to the top of one 

 "4 of the stamens and bending her head down 

 \ over the anther, stretching the maxillary 

 A tentacles, so wonderfully modified for the 

 | >. purpose, to their fullest extent, the tongue 

 :. v ^ j uncoiled and reaching to the opposite side 

 \ V ^ of the stamen. In this manner she is able 

 \// to obtain a firm hold of the stamen, while 

 the head is kept close to the anther and 

 moved peculiarly back and forth, some- 

 thing as in the motion of the head of a 

 caterpillar when feeding. The maxillary 

 palpi are used in this act very much as the 

 ordinary mandibles are used in other in- 

 sects, removing or scraping the pollen from 



Fi<i. 2. Female Pronuba ,, ., , ,-, -, A /., 



gathering pollen, the anthers toward the tentacles. After 

 thus gathering the pollen she raises her 

 head and commences to shape it into a little mass or pellet by 

 using her front legs very much as a cat does when cleansing her 

 mouth, sometimes using only one leg, at another time both, 

 smoothing and pressing the gathered pollen, the tentacles moan- 

 while stretching and curving. After collecting all the pollen 

 from one anther she proceeds to another and repeats the opera- 

 tion, then to a third and fourth, after which, with her relatively 

 large load often thrice as large as the head held firmly against 

 the neck and front trochanters, she usually runs about or flies to 

 another plant; for I have often noticed that oviposition, as a 





