INSECTS OF MOUNT RAINIER MELANDER. 417 



the flowers, but the swarms of mountain insects are too great a 

 provocation for an entomologist to resist. 



In alpine regions the growing season is short. The gardens of 

 Paradise Park are covered by many, many feet of winter snow which 

 does not melt completely away until late in August. Beds of 

 avalanche lily and of the large western anemone follow the retreat- 

 ing snowline, even pushing out their flowers through the disappear- 

 ing crust. In a few weeks, or a few days even, the flowers must 

 make their appeal for insect pollinators in order to mature seeds by 

 the time of autumn snowfall. The struggle for existence is thus 

 especially keen and the competing plants develop color, perfume, 

 and nectar to the utmost. There are also physiological reasons why 

 mountain gardens are so marvellously attractive to insects. The 

 intensely sunny days alternating with the cold nights increase the 

 production and condition the storage of sugars, and also influence 

 the development of color. 



Flowers in their phyletic making are illustrated by the castillejas, 

 or Indian paintbrush. The floral parts of these plants are incon- 

 spicuous at the top of an erect stalk, but are advertised by whorls 

 of compacted red leaves, that function like specialized corollas. 

 Castillejas elsewhere are usually a salmon yellow, but on Mount 

 Rainer several species approach a true scarlet. 



Strangely enough, it is not the brightest-hued flowers that are 

 visited by the most insects. Perhaps their colors are to compensate 

 for other lack of appeal. The brilliant outstanding red paint- 

 brushes, the beds of solid blue lupines, or the mats of pink heather 

 are not the best places for the entomologist interested in general 

 collecting to seek. Instead, it is the white heads of the ill-smelling 

 valerian over which insects swarm. Bumblebees of many coat pat- 

 terns, the large syrphus fly, Sericomyia chalcopyga (pi. 9, fig. 1). 

 first described from Alaska, ichneumons, sawflies, butterflies, tachi- 

 nids, the broad-shouldered beetle, Pachyta (pi. 8, fig. 12), and many 

 species of syrphus flies attend these flowers in unbelievable num- 

 bers. Other flowers characteristic of the alpine gardens which are 

 frequented by flying insects are the broad-leaved hellebore or vera- 

 trum, the nodding heads of mountain dock, the white avalanche lily 

 or deerstongue, and the large western anemone. 



The ridges above the alpine gardens teem with insects whenever 

 the sun shines. A favorite promenade of a half-mile to the north 

 of Paradise Inn is the climb to Alta Vista. This ridge has proved 

 to be one of the best of collecting fields for insects. The copses of 

 stunted alpine hemlock and subalpine fir on its slopes have pro- 

 duced several undescribed species of dance-flies. Now and then 

 among the shadowy trees can be seen a conspicuous steel-blue horn- 



