yo The Irish Naturalist. April, 
But towards the middle of June the VetchHng goes out 
of blossom ; and the Bugle remains, and after that I 
notice Bombus agrorum continues gathering from Bugle, 
but now it mixes the nectar of that plant with that of the 
Wild Raspberry {Rubus Idaeus), or else with that of the 
Dwarf Red-Rattle (Pedicularis sylvatica). There may be 
other mixtures adopted, but those are the two most 
favoured — always presuming the absence of Lathyrus 
macrorrhizus. 
Now, a reason for this mixture (from the bee's point of 
view) presents itself in the fact that I have sometimes 
seen Carder Bees in a state of complete stupefaction on 
flowers of Ajuga reptans. Indeed, once (June nth, 1907) 
I noticed as many as four stupefied specimens of Bombus 
agrorum on flowers of the Bugle within a space of six square 
yards. Evidently the nectar of that plant is a bit too 
strong for them, and needs to be diluted. As far as I can 
make out, the honey of the Heath Pea is never taken 
except to dilute that of the Bugle, so I suppose it is of a 
specially washy nature. If I am right on that point, 
Lathyrus macrorrhizus depends for its fertilization on 
having the Bugle for one of its neighbours. But of course 
its honey may be taken for other purposes, and by other 
insects, and I would hke to invite further attention to the 
question. 
I could not exhaust this subject without bringing in the 
pecuhar conduct I noticed one day in a Bee Hawk-Moth 
(Macroglossa bombyliformis) which I was watching as it 
was drinking honey from the flowers of Pedicularis sylvatica. 
I may say that the Bee Hawk -Moth is quite as particular 
as a bumble-bee in observing the rule that one sort of flower 
should be kept to at a time. This Bee Hawk -Moth, while 
I watched it, gathered from 250 flowers of the Dwarf Red- 
Rattle, and touched no other flower, though there were 
plenty of others about. But still I thought it behaved 
in a very erratic, not to say stupid, fashion. For during the 
course of those 250 visits to the pink flowers of the Red- 
Rattle, it turned aside no fewer than fifteen times on catching 
sight of clumps of blue Milkwort, which, of course, were 
