ee THE FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. _. [part 11. 
L.—the last five obtained neither honey nor pollen, and did not cause the 
flowers to explode. D. Coleoptera—Chrysomelide: (22) Cryptocephalus 
sericeus, L. ; (23) Cr. vittatus, F.; (24) Cr. morei, L., feeding on the tissues of 
the flower. Four additional visitors are recorded in No. 590, II. . 
This list is of special interest, as it shows that flower-loving 
insects do not restrict themselves by hereditary instinct to those 
flowers which are most useful to them, but that they search widely 
for their food in flowers, and so very often seek in vain. 
Of the pollen-collecting bees, those with abdominal collecting- 
brushes have the easiest work, since the explosion of the flower 
forces the pollen directly on to the collecting-hairs ; they are also 
the most useful to the plant, as they fly from flower to flower with 
least loss of time. : 
109. GENISTA ANGLICA, L.—In this species the. opposed 
tensions of the column on the one hand and the ale and carina on 
Fic. 63.—Genista anglica, L. 
1,—Young (virgin) flower, from the side. 
2.—Ditto, from the front. 
83.—Inner view of right ala. 
4.—Exploded flower ; the style is less recurved than usuai. 
5.—Exploded flower from the left ; a more normal specimen than 4. 
the other are much less marked. When the flower explodes, the 
carina and alze move only a short way downwards, and the whole 
column does not bend upwards, but only the style, whose tip curves 
inwards also. The only visitors that I have noticed are bees with 
tibial and femoral collecting-baskets. But it would be premature 
to conclude, even in the case of G. tinctoria, that because its 
flowers are chiefly plundered and fertilised by bees with abdominal 
brushes, they have been specially adapted only for those bees. 
I had a most favourable opportunity of watching the actions 
of the hive-bee on flowers of G. anglica one sunny morning, 
May 3, 1871. It was the first sunshine after long-continued rain, 
