72 The Irish Naturalist. April, 
blue Milkwort, because it was in hopes that the blue spikes 
might prove to be those of the blue Bugle. 
But now, how can we justify this strange peculiarity 
of the Bugle blossom ? It is a plant well-known to be 
" laid out " for cross -fertihzation by long-tongued insects, 
like bumble-bees and hawk-moths. Does it want, then, 
to be cross -fertilised by them, or does it not ? It produces 
honey that these useful insects like ; but it compels them, 
after drinking a little, to go away to some other sort of 
flower, involving no doubt, considerable waste of pollen, or 
else, if they do not, it stupefies the insects, and puts a total 
stop to their day's work. 
I can only offer one suggestion, and perhaps it may 
be thought extremely far-fetched, to explain this eccentric 
quahty in the nectar of the Bugle. The Bugle has been 
well named Ajuga reptans. It spreads by creeping with 
astonishing vigour. One can judge of this sometimes in a 
wood by coming to a patch of ground carpeted by Bugle 
of some unusual colour — possibly white or perhaps pale 
lavender — showing how far a single off -coloured plant 
has extended itself by means of its creeping scions. So 
it would seem that a bee or hawk-moth which confined 
itself exclusively to Bugle might move about for a long 
time, and visit large numbers of flower-spikes, and yet 
be only gathering from the same plant, so that real cross - 
fertihzation would not occur. But if the bee has to go off 
at frequent intervals to search for Lathyrus macrorrhizus, or 
some equally useful antidote, the chance is vastly increased 
that on its return to Bugle it will find itself in the 
neighbourhood of a new plant, so that if enough of the 
pollen still remains on it, there will be real cross -ferti- 
hsation, which, as Darwin has shown, is generally much 
better than fertihsation from flowers of the same plant. 
If' any member of the Field Club visits the Aran Islands^ 
when Ajuga pyramidalis is in bloom there, he might help to 
iMr, Praeger has kindly pointed out to me that parts of the Clare 
mainland would afford a moie favourable field. I think the observa- 
tions would best be made in a native habitat of the plant, where the 
insects visiting it would be acquainted with its properties. 
