116 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 
“Large humble-bees, noisy and quarrelsome, are attracted 
at first by the smell of the flower; but the smell probably 
only gives notice to the insects; the substance they_really 
come for is the interior lining of the labellum which they 
gnaw off with great carne § They may be seen in great 
numbers, disputing with each other for a place on the edge 
of the hypochile. Partly by contrast, partly perhaps intoxi- 
cated by the matter they are indulging in, they tumble down 
into the ‘bucket’ (epichile) half full of the fluid secreted 
by the horn-like organs at the base of the column. They 
then crawl along the anterior inner side of the bucket where 
there is a passage for them. If one is early on the lookout, 
as these hymenopters are early risers, one can see on every 
flower how pollination is performed. The humble-bee in 
forcing its way out of its involuntary bath has to exert itself 
considerably as the mouth of the epichile and the face of 
the column fit together exactly and are very stiff and elastic. 
The first bee that is immersed will have the gland of the 
pollen masses glued to its back. The insect then generally 
gets through the passage and comes out with this peculiar 
appendage, to return nearly immediately to its feast, when 
it 1s generally precipitated a second time into the bucket, 
passing out through the same aperture, and so inserting 
the pollen masses into the stigma while it forces its way out, 
and thereby pollinating either the same or another flower. 
I have often seen this, and sometimes there are so many of 
these humble-bees assembled that there is a continual pro- 
cession of them through the passage specified.” 
The arrows marked on Plate 7 indicate the route of the 
While it is not usual to have many orchids in flower at 
the Garden this time of year, the cool, wet summer has been 
particularly favorable for the blooming of these plants, and 
various cattleyas and oncidiums, as well as single specimens 
of numerous species, will be on display the coming month. 
Hot, weather is detrimental to most orhaes Peron ianly 
the cattleyas-which grow wild in the Cordillera Mountains of 
Colombia, where the temperature rarely varies from 62°F. 
Under normal conditions these orchids make their new 
growths (pseudobulbs) during the summer months, storing 
sufficient material to produce the new flowers and carry the 
plant through the resting period. Cattleya Gaskelliana, a 
midsummer flowering variety, has bloomed profusely this 
month and Laelio-Cattleya elegans, recently imported from 
Colombia, commenced growin, immediately upon arrival 
and has produced a number of flowers. Oncidium variosum 
Rogersti, imported during 1913 from Brazil, has made 
