DECEMBER I. lyl: 



773 



protection of the neclar fio'.n rni: s by 

 tufts, fringes, and gTatings of liairs, or by 

 projecting scales. It is noteworthy that, 

 in some flowers, the wrong path to the nec- 

 tar is beset with prickles and sharp points. 

 Xocturnal flowers do not have nectar- 

 guides, since they would be invisible in the 

 dark. It is certainly desirable, however, 

 to test the question experimentally. 



Irregular flowers have nectar-guides much 

 more frecjuently than regular flowers. Mr. 

 Ryan thinks that this order should be re- 

 versed, and that such marks are more need- 

 ful to regular forms. In this opinion he 

 seems to be alone. A season's observation 

 in the field should make it clear why regu- 

 lar flowers do not require path-finders. 

 Rotate flowers like the strawberry, five- 

 finger, and caiTot have the nectar secreted 

 at the center, where it is largeh' unprotect- 

 ed, and exposed to all comers. When an 

 insect alights uj^on the flower the nectar is 

 directly in front of it. As a result, such 

 flowers, if the nectar is abundant, are 

 visited by a great comi^any of miscellaneous 

 insects, as bees, wasps, ants, flies, and 

 beetles. Even the most stupid species 

 readily find the nectar. Many of them are 

 mere pillagers and are of no benefit. I 

 have collected more than 80 different kinds 

 of insects on the prickly sarsaparilla. Re- 

 cently Dr. Banks, of the Entomological 

 Bureau at Washington, published a list of 

 382 different species of insects which he 

 had collected on the flowers of Ceanothus. 

 Such flowers do not need nectar-guides. 

 The nectar is too easily obtained as it is; 

 they need ])rotection for the nectar. This 

 is afforded in ii-regi;lar flowers. 



Irreg-ular flowers have the nectar deeply 

 concealed where it can be obtained by only 

 a few (sometimes by but one) species of 

 insects. In the island of Madagascar 

 there is an orchid Avith a nectary 12 inches 

 long, a specimen of which I have seen in 

 bloom in the botanical garden at Cam- 

 bridge, Mass. There is only one species of 

 moth in that island which has a proboscis 

 long enough to drain up the last drop of 

 nectar. In bizarre-shaped flowers like the 

 tuvtle's-head, monkey-flower, and bee or- 

 chis, the nectar can be found only by the 

 most intelligent insects. Often they are 

 com) elled to enter within the corolla 

 through a narrow mouth, or even through 

 closed lips. The turtle's-head, as the name 

 indicates, crudely resembles in form the 

 head of a turtle. The flowers are white, 

 but the lips are red. It is easy to under- 

 stand that a bumblebee coming to a cluster 

 of flowers would much more quickly find 

 the entrance than if the lips were white. 



As a matter of fact, bumblebees do enter 

 the corolla without an}- delaj-; but I have 

 seen wasps and flies examining the outside 

 of the corolla for a long time vainly trying 

 to find the nectar. Comijaratively few 

 injurious insects ever find their way into 

 iiTegTilar flowers. Irregular flowers then 

 require nectar-guides because the nectar is 

 concealed and ditlicult to find. The fact 

 that they are i^resent in such flowers is 

 certainly a strong argument in favor of 

 nectar-gTiides. 



Mr. Ryan says that the cryptogams (sea- 

 weeds, fungi, mossworts, and fernworts ) 

 "owe not one tittle to the insect world." 

 On the contrary, there is a family of fungi 

 (the Fhalloideae) which are called the flow- 

 er fungi. They display bright colors, and 

 produce a sweet tough mucilage with a 

 nauseous odor. This is eagerly visited by 

 flesh flies, which thus widely disseminate 

 the spores with which the mucilage is filled. 

 Honeybees also sometimes gather the si^ores 

 of fungi as a substitute for pollen. As a 

 rule, however, the spores of these lowly 

 plants are very effectively distributed by 

 the wind. The spores of seaweed are car- 

 ried by the water in which they live. 



It is freely admitted that insects will 

 gather nectar from green flowers, and hon- 

 ey-dew from green leaves, after these 

 sources of sweet supplies have once been 

 found ; but they will not be found as quick- 

 ly on gi'een-colored substances as they will 

 on bright-colored ones. Let us again ap- 

 peal to exi^ei'iment. I accustomed a small 

 number of bees to visit a piece of dull-gray 

 board on which there was a small quantity 

 of honey. For convenience this board will 

 be called the feeder. While the bees were 

 busily at work I laid on the gi'ass of the 

 lawn, three feet from the feeder, some blue 

 floral leaves of the bee larkspur, placed 

 between two glass object-slides, 3x1 inch. 

 On the upper glass slide there were a few 

 dro} s of honey. On a dandelion leaf, also 

 three feet from the feeder, but five feet 

 from the blue floral leaves, honey was also 

 placed. As soon as the honey on the feeder 

 was exhausted the bees began circling in 

 "the air looking for more. In a few min- 

 utes one bee had found the blue slide; in 

 ten minutes two bees, and in twenty-fi\e 

 minutes five bees; but none had found the 

 honey on the dandelion leaf. At the end 

 of forty minutes one bee had found the 

 honey on the dandelion leaf. In this ex- 

 periment the advantage was clearly on the 

 side of the conspicuous object. If two 

 flowers were blooming at some distance 

 apart, the one bright-colored and the other 



