•62 THE REPORT OF THE \ No. 19 



We have seen that the willow catkins are polliaabed by bees and noctuids. The 

 flowers of the Blueberry ( Vaccinium Canadense) are fertilized by wasps which resort to 

 them in great numbers. The round head and short lingala of the wasp fit well into the 

 shallow saucer-like blossom. 



Another plant that is visited by wasps is the Kalmia [Kalmia angustifolia). This 

 also has shallow blossoms which have this peculiarity, each stamen is sunk in a groove 

 the shoulder of which confines the anther. When an insect in search of nectar butts 

 against the centre of the flower the stamens with their anthers are set free and start 

 forward, scattering pollen on the front of the intruder. This pollen is carried by the 

 insect to other blossoms of the sort and fertilizes them. 



In early summer the Lilac blooms are visited by long-tongued moths, such as 

 Amphion nessus Cram,, Hemaris thyshe Fabr., etc., which fly in the daytime. In the 

 dusk of the evening the white-blossomed perennial Phlox invites the larger hawk-moths. 

 Sphinx chersis Hubn., S. Kalmice A. & S , Deilephila chamcenerii Har., etc. The flowers 

 of t\ie Dogbane (Apocynum androscemi/oUum) are favourites of moths of the genera 

 Plusia and Thyatira. 



Of the butterflies Argynnis myrina Cram, has a partiality for Golden Rod (Solidago 

 Canadensis) ; Pyrameis cardui L. for Red Clover {Trifolium. pratense) ; Satyrusalope Fabr. 

 and S. nephele Kirby for the blossoms of Asclepias cornuti; Pamphila Manitoba Scud. 

 for Solidago lanceolata, and so on. 



In the Society's Annual Report for 1899 I gave the life-history of a small moth 

 Metzneria lappella Zel. newly introduced from Europe. It is a burdock insect. Its 

 larva? feed on the seeds of the plant, and the moth itself feeds from and fertilizes the 

 burdock flowers. 



The flower-head of the Burdock (Lappa major) contains about forty flowers. They 

 are compressed in a globular involucre, the imbricated scales of which are coriaceous and 

 tipped with awl-shaped hooks. The calyx in each flower is represented by a dense 

 circlet of delicate, white, eilky and branched hairs surmounting the seed vessel. The 

 corolla consists of a white tube half the length of the blossom, and then of a vase-shaped, 

 purple expansion, five-cleft at the top. The brownish purple anthers are united and 

 form a tube which produces pollen on the inner side. Through this tube when dehi- 

 scence occurs the pinkish white style forces it way, carrying with it the delicate, white, 

 pellucid pollen-grains. The style then parts at the top into two branches which bear the 

 stigmas on the upper surface. An insect carrying pollen-grains from other flower-heads 

 intrudes among the flowerets and leaves pollen-grains attached to the stigmas. In its 

 efl[orts to reach the nectaries of the flower it dislodges pollen from the freshly protruding 

 styles and then bears it away to fertilize other blossoms. 



The Evening Primrose (Oenothera biennis) is the special plant of Alaria florida Gn. 

 The moth fertilizes the blossoms and is sometimes wrapped in the closing petals on the 

 approach of day. Its larvae feed upon the plant. 



The honey-bee fertilizes the white clover and the humble-bee the red. Grant Allen 

 in " Flash Lights of Nature * has drawn attention to the fact that as the flowerets in a 

 head of clover are fertilized they droop over out of the way so that the bees may not be 

 hindered in their work by vain endeavours. 



Another flower that is pollinated by bees is the Nasturtium (Tropceolum majus). 

 Three of its five showy petals at a certain distance within are set with a protective fringe, 

 a veritable ckevaux-de-frize to keep out small insects which would rob the flowers of its 

 sweets and accomplish no good purpose. When a bee of sufficient weight enters, it bears 

 down this fringe over the anthers, and at the same time comes in contact with the ad- 

 vanced style, the stigmas of which become charged with pollen which the bee has brought 

 from other nasturtium blooms. The bee passes into the recesses of the flower, to imbibe 

 the nectar accumulated in the spur, and as it does so the fringe and the stamens rise to 

 their normal position. Having exhausted the supply of nectar, the bee backs and turns 

 to make good its escape, and in its efforts to do so is covered with fresh pollen *from the 

 anthers of the flower. 



The Campanula grown in our gardens (C. medium) has an interesting lesson for us. 



The long flower-bud, yet unopened, encloses the tall pistil, along which the five fila- 

 ments with their long anthers are extended. When the anthers dehisce the pollen masses 

 adhere to the style leaving about a quarter of an inch at the top free. This projecting 



