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[SeiJtemluT— October i^*s^ 



F'SYCHE. 



CAMBRIDGE, MASS., SEPT.-OCT., 1S83. 



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PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



LIXXEAX SOCIETY OF LONDON. 



15 Feb. 18S3. — Mr. J. Jenner Weir exhibit- 

 ed a perfect hermaphrodite butterfly (/-r- 

 ciiena icarits,') and a l.>hie male and a brown 

 female of the same species for comparison. 

 The hermaphrodite in question possesses two 

 spotless blue wings on the left, and two spot- 

 less brown wings on the right, thus being 

 intermediate in color between the two sexes. 



A paper was read on the manna insect of 

 South Australia, bv J. G. Otto Tepper. This 

 contains observations on the insect in ques- 

 tion, and on the peculiar saccharine substance 

 derived from and deposited on various species 

 of Rucalyftus trees. 



I March 1SS3.— Mr. Alfred \V. Bennett 

 read a paper "On the constancv of insects in 

 their visits to flowers." He stated as a sum- 

 mary that the different classes of insects show 

 very great difference \n this respect. Butter- 

 flies show but little constancy except in a few 

 instances ; but they would appear to be guided 

 to a certain extent by a preference for par- 

 ticular colors. The diptera exhibit greater 

 constancy, though by no means absolute. .\ 

 much greater degree of constancy is mani- 

 fested by \.\\t cipidae: and this liccomes all 



but absolute in the hive-bee. It is an inter- 

 esting circumstance that this constancy ap- 

 pears to increa.se in proportion to the part 

 performed by the insects in carrying pollen 

 from flower to flower, A much larger num- 

 ber of observations is however needed in or- 

 der to determine with certainty any general 

 law ; and especially a careful microscopic ex- 

 amination of the pollen attached to the pro- 

 boscis, mandibles, legs, and under side of the 

 abdomen and thorax. As respects preference 

 for particular colors, the lepidoplera observed 

 paid 70 visits to red or pink flowers, 5 toblue, 

 15 to vellow. 5 to white : the diptera 9 to red 

 or pink. S to yellow. .;o to white ; the hy- 

 menoptera 303 to red or pink. 126 to blue. 11 

 to yellow. 17 to white. 



There followed a communication "On the 

 methodic habits of insects when visiting 

 flowers" by Mr. R. M. Christy. The author 

 records in detail the movements of 76 insects 

 while engaged in visiting 2,400 flowers. He 

 tabulates the results and concludes that in- 

 sects possess a decided preference for a num- 

 ber of successive visits to the same species of 

 flower, although this is not invariably the 

 case. Most of the observations were made 

 on bees, which seem to perform the fertiliza- 

 tion of at least one-half of all the flowers 

 fertilized by insects in this country. Butter- 

 flies as a rule seem to wander purposelessly 

 in their flight, nevertheless sonie species, in- 

 cluding the fritillaries, are fairly methodic. 

 The author believes that it is not by color 

 alone that insects are guided from one flower 

 to anolher'of the same species, and the sense 

 of smell is suggested. Bees, he avers, have 

 jioor sight for long distances but good sight 

 for short distances. Of 55 humble-bees 

 watched. -'6 visited blue flowers ; 12 of the 

 bees wore methodic in their visits and 5 not 

 so : 13 visited white flowers; 5 were methodic 

 and 8 not so : 1 1 visited yellow flowers ; 5 were 

 methodic and 6 not so: jS visited red flowers; 

 7 were methodic, 9 nearly so, and u not so. 

 Mr. Christy inclines to the opinion (though 

 admitting paucitv of data 1 that bees in a 



