59^ THANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



Bombus americanoriim visiting flowers of this plant and of G. 

 auriculata indiscriminately. On G. auriculata it entered in an. 

 upright position, but always turned up-side down to reach the 

 nectar of G. purfurea. The style with its lateral stigmatic sur- 

 faces projects across the upper part of the mouth of the corolla,- 

 and bees enter on each side of it. The anther-cells are not 

 awned as in G. pedicularia, but merely pointed, and the pollen 

 is sifted out in a similar manner. Some smaller bees which do 

 not attempt to reach the nectar, and are not requiied lo reverse, 

 do so in order to dislodge the pollen. 



The flower is visited mainly for pollen. The fall of the flower 

 has little reference to the secretion of nectar ; I have seen B. 

 aniericanorum visiting the flowers for nectar, and falling to the 

 ground with nearly every flower it entered. The narrow part of 

 the tube is about 5 mm. long. 



On 6 days, between Sept. 6 and 36, I observed as visitors : 



Apidce, (i) Bombus americanorum F. (;J* 9 ^ > s. & c.p., ab.; (2) B. 

 virginicus Oliv. ^ . s. & c.p., one; (3) Melissodes perplexa Cr. 9 5 c-P- 5 

 (4) Megachile brevis Say 9) s. & c.p. 



Lepidoptera. — Rhopalocera, (5) Pamphila sp., s., one. 



Gerardia temtt folia Vahl. — A good, illustration of this flower 

 is on plate ii. of Goodale's ''Wild Flowers." It is short and broad,, 

 with purple lobes. The tube within is white and spotted with 

 purple. The narrow part of the tube is so short that a proboscis 

 2 or 3 mm. long can reach to the bottom of it. In a general way 

 the flower agrees with that of G. pufpurea^ but the tube is so 

 short that bees are not compelled to reverse. Accordingly, when 

 sucking they take an upright position, but when collecting pollen 

 they hang to the hairy stamens and work out the loose pollen with 

 their legs. The pollen is the chief source of attraction, and the 

 flower, on account of its abundance, occupies an important place 

 in the economy of bumble-bees as a pollen-flower. On account 

 of the short tube, the flowers are sought by a greater number of 

 species and more individuals of each than in the two preceding. 



On ten days, between Aug. 26 and Sept. 12, I observed the 

 following visitors : 



Hymenoptera. — Apidie, (i) Apis mellifica L. g , s. & c. p., ab.; (2) 

 Bombus virginicus Oliv. ^ , s. & c.p., ab. ; (3) B. separatus Cr. ^ , c.p. ; 



