378 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. XI, No. 8, 



POLLINATION NOTES FROM THE CEDAR POINT REGION. 



Wm. Bembower. 



An extremely interesting phase of the study of Ecology in the 

 vicinity of the Ohio State Lake Laboratory is that of pollination. 

 There are various reasons for this: the plants range from purely 

 Hydrophytic to quite Xerophytic, with numerous intennediate 

 groups, and there are represented self -pollinated as well as all of 

 the various classes of cross-pollinated plants. 



Another interesting feature is that during the summer term 

 only one specimen of the Honey Bee (Apis mellifica) was taken on 

 Cedar Point. The supposition is that there are no colonies of the 

 bees on the Point and that the occasional visitor came over from 

 the mainland, three miles distant. A common pollinator is thus 

 eliminated from the Cedar Point list. 



Of the self-pollinated types of flowers, as found on Cedar 

 Point, there are the cleistogamous flowers of the violet which are 

 fertilized before the buds open, as well as the various types in 

 which self-pollination is inevitable from the situation of the stig- 

 matic surface below the discharging anthers. 



In the cross-pollinated types we find most of the different 

 general classes represented; as, wind, pollinated, insect-pollinated, 

 bird-pollinated, snail-pollinated, and water-pollinated flowers. 



The wind-pollinated flowers are easily recognized by their 

 inconspicuousness ; by the absence of any particular attraction for 

 animals, such as odors, food, etc.; and by the abundance of pollen. 

 The water-pollinated type is represented by the Eel Grass (Val- 

 lisneria spiralis) in the coves on the south shore of the Point. 



Of the bird-pollinated plants only a few observations were made. 

 The Humming Bird was observed to visit the Pickerel Weed 

 (Pontcderia cordata) and the Buttonbush (Ccphalanthus occi- 

 dentalis) about the 20th of July, at about which time this bird is 

 recorded to put in its appearance each year on the Point. This is 

 presumably after the nesting season, after the young have flown 

 from the nest, and as in the two plants mentioned seeds which 

 were approaching maturity were observed previous to this date 

 the conclusion is that the bird may aid in pollination but is not 

 essential to it. 



Turning now to the Entomophilus or insect-pollinated plants 

 which comprise the largest class on the Point we find many adap- 

 tations between plants and insects. Many ingenious theories 

 have been devised to explain why certain insects are attracted to 

 certain flowers and considerable experimentation has been carried 

 on in attempts to prove these theories. For the most complete 

 work on this subject we have referred to a three-volume work by 

 Knuth.^ Quotations will be made from this work having ref- 



'Knuth, Dr. Paul. Handbook of Flower Pollination. 3 vols. Translated 

 by J. R. Ainsworth Davis. Oxford. 1906-1909. 



