IQO 



ANGIOSPERMA EDICO TYLEDONES 



I 



'93. 



Hi 



2116. V. 



Beob.,' Ill, p. 



33 



2115. V. Anagallis L. (MacLeod, Bot. Jaarb. Dodonaea, Ghent, v, 1893, 

 p, 347.) MacLeod says that automatic self-pollination is easily possible in 

 species. 



Visitors. The following were recorded by the observers, and for the localities 



stated. 



Heinsius (Belgium), the hover-fly Syritta pipiens L. Loew (Silesia), the hover- 

 fly Helophilus lineatus F., skg. Herm. Miiller (Thuringia), an Empid (Empis livida 

 L., skg.), a Muscid (Anthomyia sp., skg.), 2 hover-flies (sp. of Ascia and Syritta, skg. 

 and po-dvg.), and an ant (Lasius niger Z., nect-lkg.) (' Weit. Beob.,' Ill, p. 33). 



Warnstorf (Verb. bot. Ver., Berlin, xxxviii, 1896) describes the variety b. aquatica 

 L. as protogynous. The stamens project a litde beyond the stigma, to which the 

 dehiscing anthers are applied, so that self-pollination easily takes place. The pollen- 

 grains are white in colour, ellipsoidal, beset with small tubercles, up to 50 /i long and 

 20 ii broad. 



Beccabunga L. (Herm. MuUer, 'Fertilisation,' pp. 439-41. 'Weit. 

 Kirchner, 'Flora v. Stuttgart,' p. 588; Knuth, 'Bloemenbiol. 



Bijdragen.') The 

 dark sky-blue flowers 

 of this species are pro- 

 togynous, and agree 

 with V. Chamaedrys 

 as regards secretion 

 and concealment of 

 nectar. They expand 

 in the sunshine to 

 form a flat surface, 

 from which the sta- 

 mens diverge upwards and outwards, the anthers being at a distance from the 

 stigma when they dehisce. During unfavourable weather the flowers remain half- 

 closed, and the dehisced anthers keep in contact with the stigma, so that automatic 

 self-pollination takes place. 



Visitors. The following were recorded by the observers, and for the localities 

 stated. 



Knuth (Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, and Thuringia) and Herm. Miiller 

 (Westphalia) describe 2 hover-flies (Syritta pipiens L., and Ascia podagrica Z.) as 

 the most important visitors. The account given by Miiller of their behaviour has 

 been quoted elsewhere (Vol. I, p. 136), and in regard to the present species he 

 speaks as follows: 'The most abundant visitor is a small species of Syrphidae, 

 Syritta pipiens L. ; hovering backwards and forwards in its jerky flight before the 

 flowers, it suddenly alights on one ; sometimes it settles on the projecting style and 

 stamens, which bend beneath its weight, and creeps for^vard a step or two in order to 

 thrust its proboscis (3 mm. long) into the tube (i mm.) ; sometimes it alights on the 

 anterior or one of the lateral petals, and pulls down one of the stamens with its fore- 

 feet until it can reach the pollen with its proboscis. It thus brings various parts oi 

 its body in contact with the anthers and stigma, and performs sometimes cross- 

 fertilization, sometimes self-fertilization. Most usually cross-fertilization results, for 

 the insect alighting on the projecting style and stamens usually touches the stigma 



Fig. 295. Veronica Beccabungra, L. {aitKT Herm. tMMei). (i) Flower seen 

 obliquely from above. (a) Corolla after removal of the stamens, seen directly 

 from the front. (3) Pistil and nectary, seen from the side, a, sepals ; b, corolla ; 

 <, filaments; d, ovary; e, style; f, stigma;^, nectary; h, nectar^cover. (i & 2, 

 X 3 ; 3, X 7.) 



