PART III. | THE MECHANISMS OF FLOWERS. 457 
engaged in the struggle for existence ;+ the one excels in conspi- 
cuousness and the abundance of its insect-visitors, the other in its 
power of self-fertilisation, The former seems to have the advan- 
tage, for both in Westphalia and, according to Ascherson’s Flora, in 
Brandenburg it is much more plentiful than the smaller form; it 
is also more plentiful both in England and Ireland according to 
Mr. T. H. Corry. 
The following list includes the visitors to both forms :— 
(1) Bombus (Apathus) Barbutellus, K. 9 (12); (2) B. Rajellus, Ill. 9 
(12—13) ; (3) B. hortorum, L. 9 9 (19—21) ; (4) B. silvarum, L. 2 $ (10O— 
14) ; (5) B. senilis, Sm. 9 $ (14—15) ; (6) B. Scrimshiranus, K. § (10) ; (7) 
B. hypnorum, L. § (10—12), all only sucking normally ; (8) B. terrestris, L. 
2% (7—9), (9) B. pratorum, L. § (8), both sucking normally on R. minor, 
but obtaining the honey of &. major by biting a hole in the spur. 
Several of the above-named humble-bees were caught carry- 
ing Rhinanthus pollen in their collecting-baskets,—viz. B. terrestris, 
? §%, and in especial numbers (in the Hoppekethal, July 11, 1869), 
B. hypnorum, %, and B. pratorum, 3. Sprengel mentions the 
honey-bee as a frequent visitor, but I have never observed it; its 
proboscis (6 mm. long) is at any rate too short to reach the honey 
in the legitimate manner. 
I have seen one of the Noctuids, Huclidia glyphica, L., 
repeatedly sucking the honey of this flower; but the tongues of 
Lepidoptera are so thin that they can reach the honey without 
pushing the anthers apart, and Lepidoptera therefore are quite 
useless to the plant. : 
In Rhinanthus Alectorolophus, Poll.,? we have an intermediate 
stage between R. crista-galli and R. alpinus. The corolla is produced 
into a beak-like prolongation close under the projecting stigma, 
and above the entrance made use of by bees; this process of the 
corolla bears a small opening, bounded by two blue lobes. This 
small opening permits Lepidoptera to insert their thin tongues, which 
touch first the stigma and then the anthers; and as a matter of 
fact this species is visited and cross-fertilised both by Lepidoptera 
and by humble-bees (570, 609). 
In Rhinanthus alpinus, Brng., the lower or bees’ entrance is 
closed, its edges coming close together without uniting, and only 
the small upper opening remains; and this species is therefore 
1 Compare Malva rotundifolia and M. silvestris, p. 142. 
2 Included by Nyman, Conspectus Flore Europe, under R. major. 
