parr i.] THE INSECTS WHICH VISIT FLOWERS. 31 
watched them bending their heads down on to the honey-secreting 
disc, that I could not doubt that they were feeding there. In 
the summer of 1855, I took Ascalaphus macaronius on flowers of 
Umbellifers in meadows at Laibach. 
The case of Panorpa communis* is quite clear, for it even visits 
flowers with more deeply-seated honey (Rosacerx, Composite, ¢.9. 
ELupatorium cannabinun), plunging its long beak-shaped head 
_ into the tubes. One might be inclined to look upon this elongated 
head as specially adapted for the quest of honey, were it not that 
_ the little wingless, closely-allied Boreus hiemalis, which never visits 
+ (I SP SOME 
flowers, but lives among moss,” shows the same peculiarity. 
It is also exceptional for Neuroptera to visit flowers. They 
are more abundant than the above-named Orthoptera, and 
occasionally cross-fertilisation may be effected by them; but 
certainly no native flower has been modified by the agency of 
_ either group. 
Hemiptera. 
In their importance as fertilisers, Hemiptera stand higher 
than the preceding divisions, for in one group, the bugs 
(Hemiptera heteroptera, Latr.), several forms are habitually 
anthophilous ; whether they possess fang peer adaptations for 
a floral diet is still uncertain. 
The species of Anthocoris (so called from their fondness for 
flowers) are fitted by their small size to creep into and suck honey 
_ from very various flowers. I have taken several undetermined 
species of Capsidw and Anthocoride on flowers of Umbelliferz, 
Composite, and Salix, seeking honey and dusted with pollen, 
» I found Tetyra nigrolineata abundantly on flowers of Daucus 
Carota in Thuringia, and I have seen Pyrocoris aptera, in spring, 
thrusting its proboscis (about four mm. long) into florets of the 
_ dandelion; the underside of its legs and body was dusted with 
_ pollen, and it seemed to be a regular and efficient fertiliser. I 
_ have seen no structural adaptations for floral visits in any of 
_ these insects, unless the small size of Anthocoris be of this nature ; 
_ the long proboscis is found in many allied forms which never 
visit flowers. No flower has been shown to be specially adapted 
for the visits of field-bugs, and I know no species for whose 
fertilisatiorw these insects are especially important. The structure 
of their proboscis need not be considered. 
1 Panorpa communis is habitually carnivorous. 
* I have found Borews hiemalis repeatedly among moss on the Lichtenauer 
mountain, near Willebadessen, but only in the middle of winter. 
