THE FLOWER AND THE BEE 



of many wood-boring beetles has been considered an adapta- 

 tion for obtaining nectar; but, as the abdomen is also long and 

 narrow, their cylindrical form has been determined more prob- 

 ably by their habit of gnawing burrows in solid wood, just as 

 the elongated front of the head of the weevils has resulted from 

 the excavating of little pits in which to lay their eggs. 



Among the anthophilous, or flower- visiting Coleoptera, the 

 two most remarkable genera are Gnathium and Nemognatha, of 

 the blister-beetle family (Meloidce), which have a slender suc- 

 torial tongue, like that of a butterfly, except that it cannot be 

 coiled up. It varies greatly in length in the different species, 

 attaining in one instance a length of 11 mm. Both genera 

 live wholly on nectar, and they thrust this tongue in and out 

 of tubular flowers with the precision and rapidity of bees. It 

 may seem strange that other beetles have not acquired a suc- 

 torial tongue since it is common to all the butterflies and moths, 

 but the Coleoptera did not begin visiting flowers till late in the 

 history of their development, and they are dependent on nectar 

 for food to such a small extent that variations in this direction 

 would not be likely to be preserved in most cases. (Fig. 92.) 



The primitive Coleoptera lived largely upon the ground, but 

 as they learned to search for their prey on trees and herbage, 

 they gradually began to visit flowers. They have never, how- 

 ever, been of much importance in flower-pollination, and floral 

 structure has not been modified in any way as the result of 

 their visits.* 



* A complete list of the known anthophilous Coleoptera of New England with 

 a description of the flowers visited by them will be found in two papers by the 

 author, prepared with the co-operation of Mr. C. A. Frost, published in Psyche; 

 A Journal of Entomology, vol. 22, No. 3, pp, 67-84; No. 4, pp. 109-117, 1915. 



192 



