however, such a bouquet was forced on the attention of 
the females, they exhibited indifference, and if pressed 
too insistently flew away as if from something repugnant 
to them. If flowering specimens of the orchid were con- 
cealed under sheets of newspaper and thus hidden from 
view, the males of Scolia would approach, as if trying to 
reach the concealed flowers, attracted, it would seem, by 
some odor too faint for perception by human nostrils, 
beeause Ophrys speculum is described as being without 
scent. Pouyanne refers to the metallic, violet-blue patch 
of color on the labellum of Ophrys speculum as resem- 
bling the metallic blue of the female of Scolia ciliata 
when, at such times as the insect is at rest or crawling on 
the ground, the wings are half crossed. It is then that 
the insect, if the sun is shining, exhibits a metallic lustre, 
an iridescence, similar to that of the labellum of Ophrys 
speculum. Even though the resemblance between the fe- 
male of Scolia ciliata and the labellum of the orchid is 
hardly of anature to deceive our eyes, Pouyanne reminds 
us that the vision of insects is myopic and less keen than 
ours and that, moreover, in addition to even a faint re- 
semblance that might not in itself deceive the males of 
Scolia ciliata, there is some subtle scent that completes 
the deception and induces the sexual phenomena he has 
so convincingly described. 
From Pouyanne’s experiments and from the behavior 
of the insects there was every reason to believe that 
Ophrys speculum and the males of Scolia ciliata are bio- 
logically adjusted for purposes mutually advantageous, 
although if the purposes are purely sexual, as is evident, 
then the orchid alone seems to be biologically benefited 
by the association and, according to human standards, 
the insect seems to be sadly hoodwinked. 
We may wonder how the brief time between the 
emerging of the males and the females of Scola ciliata, 
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