Dogbane and Milkweed 3 15 



The bee seems the favorite guest of the milk- 

 weed. The pollen-masses come out at once to her 

 tread, and are carried directly to the pistil of 

 another flower. 



Wasps visit the milkweed for its honey, but I 

 have never seen them withdraw the pollen-masses. 

 Flies seldom do, though the flower is visited by 

 flies of many species. Indeed, it is a general 

 favorite, standing in the midst of a winged throng 

 till dark, for twilight brings to it a number of 

 small, sad-colored moths with very long proboscides. 



But not all these visitors are permitted to go in 

 peace. A small fly with his legs . stuck to the 

 black disks is frequently unable to pull himself 

 loose after he has drunk his fill. 



In a bunch of twenty-five blossoms I have 

 counted five flies thus held in captivity three 

 dead and two dying and the same bunch had 



captured a long-legged, lace-winged caperer, whose 



i 



struggles to free himself were as desperate as futile. 

 On any large bunch of these flowers one can see 

 mementoes of past tribulations. Here and there 

 a blossom still holds a little black leg, the price 

 of the liberty of some insect who has gone off 

 free, but a cripple. 



A flower so highly organized as the milkweed 



