Vol. xxiv] ENTOMOLOCJCAL NEWS. 107 



believes that it is the result of an effort on the part of the 

 different species of bees to avoid competition. I hold that it 

 has arisen because of the direct advantage gained coupled 

 with a short term of flight. 



While the white clover is in bloom in the Eastern States the 

 honey bee visits the flowers almost exclusively for nectar and 

 pollen. There is here no question of competition ; primarily 

 the bees come to procure the great abundance of nectar found 

 in the clover heads, and pollen is gathered from the same flow- 

 ers as a matter of convenience. If the honey bee flew only 

 while the white clover was in bloom it would be regarded as a 

 monotropic visitor of this plant; but as it flies throughout a 

 large part of the year and requires ample stores it can never 

 become oligotropic. In California for a time honey bees gather 

 nectar wholly from the sages ; in Michigan from the raspberry 

 or willow herb ; in the Central States from the basswood ; in 

 Xew York from buckwheat, and in Maine in the fall they ob- 

 tain both pollen and nectar largely from the golden rods. The 

 correlation existing between the domestic bee and various flow- 

 ers affords an ever-present illustration of the way in which 

 the oligotropic habit might arise in the case of a bee with a 

 short term of flight. 



There can be no competition where there is an over-abund- 

 ance of supplies. No other early blooming entomophilous flow- 

 ers yield so much pollen and nectar as the willows. Xo other 

 genus of honey plants in early spring is so valuable to the 

 apiarist as Sali.v. The honey bees gather great quantities of 

 pollen, and in some localities they are reported as storing from 

 8 to 15 pounds of honey per hive from this source alone. The 

 remarkable fitness of the willows to the needs of Andrenid 

 bees has been observed by Mr. C. M. Weed (Ten Netv Eng- 

 l.nid Blossoms, p. 9), who remarks upon the great abundance 

 of pollen and nectar and the absence of any equally attractive 

 i lowers. In a paper on "The Relations of the Andrenine Bees 

 to the Entomophilous Flora of Milwaukee County" (Trans, 

 ll'is. Ac. Nat. Sciences, Vol. 15), Dr. Graenicher has given a 

 list of the 47 species of Andrcna occurring in that locality 



