CAPR1F0LIACEAE 533 



Amrum I specially observed Plusia gamma Z., freq., which also sucked legitimately 

 and effected pollination. This moth was so zealous about the matter that I was 

 able to remove it from the flowers with my fingers. 



Herm. Miiller only observed the humble-bee Bombus hortorum Z. 5, but 

 supposed visits to be made by nocturnal hawk-moths as well. He makes the 

 following remarks about the humble-bee mentioned : ' The bee wasted considerable 

 time in obtaining a convenient position for sucking, and it crawled from the broad 

 upper-lip to the mouth of the tube without touching the stigma and anthers ; and the 

 amount of honey it obtained must have been small, for after visiting a few flowers it 

 flew away, though the plants were in full bloom. Bees, therefore, are only accidental 

 visitors, which have had no influence in developing the special characters of the 

 flower' ('Fertilisation,' pp. 295-7). 



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

 Knuth (Helgoland) 2 hawk-moths (Deilephila galii Rott., and Macroglossa 

 stellatarium Z), the Noctuid Plusia gamma Z., and small Noctuids (Bot. Jaarb. 

 Dodonea, Ghent, viii, 1896, p. 44). Heinsius (Holland), the humble-bee Bombus 

 hortorum Z. <5, freq., skg., and the po-dvg. hover-fly Melanostoma hyalinata Fall. <j> 

 (op. cit. iv, 1892, pp. 1 15-16). MacLeod (Belgium) noticed two humble-bees, skg. 

 (Bombus hortorum Z., and B. agrorum F.)) also the diurnal hawk-moth Macro- 

 glossa stellatarum Z., skg. Scott-Elliot (Dumfriesshire), 3 Lepidoptera (' Flora of 

 Dumfriesshire,' p. 84). Willis observed (in the neighbourhood of the south coast 

 of Scotland) the humble-bee Bombus hortorum Z. <j>, freq., skg. ('Fls. and Insects 

 in Gt. Britain,' Part I). 



1222. L. caprifolium L. (Herm. Miiller, 'Fertilisation,' pp. 293-5; Kirchner, 

 ' Flora v. Stuttgart,' p. 672 ; Kerner, ' Nat. Hist. PI.,' Eng. Ed. 1, II, pp. 201, 208, ait.) 

 This species bears flowers adapted to nocturnal hawk-moths. The mechanism 

 (Fig. 174) agrees with that of L. Periclymenum (Herm. Miiller, Kirchner, Kerner), 

 but the corolla-tube is about 30 mm. long, so that only those Sphingids with a 

 proboscis of corresponding length can exhaust the nectar. Kerner describes the 

 flowers as slightly protogynous, while Hermann Miiller considers them to be homoga- 

 mous. According to Kirchner, the corolla in the unfertilized stage is white or 

 reddish-white internally and is tinged with pink externally, but later on assumes a bright 

 yellow colour. Kerner says that, as in the last species, the fragrance is most 

 pronounced between 6 p.m. and midnight, and that the flowers open in a few 

 minutes, anthesis lasting three days. This would indicate that the mechanism of 

 L. Caprifolium agrees with the description I have given above for L. Periclymenum, 

 but I have not yet had an opportunity of confirming this opinion, to which I first 

 gave expression in 1894, by actual observation. Kerner says that automatic self- 

 pollination takes place when insect-visits fail. 



Visitors. Herm. Miiller observed the following Lepidoptera (the figures in 

 parenthesis give the length of proboscis in mm.). 



(a) Sphingidae : 1. Sphinx convolvuli Z. (65-80); 2. S. ligustri Z. (37-42); 

 3. S. pinastri Z. (28-33); au " these 3 can completely exhaust the nectar; 4. Deile- 

 phila elpenor Z. (20-24); 5. D. porcellus Z. (20); these 2 can get most of the 

 nectar; 6. Smerinthus tiliae Z. (3), vainly trying to suck. (b) Noctuidae: 7. Dian- 

 thoecia capsincola Hb. (23-5), as 4 and 5; 8. Cucullia umbratica Z. 5 (18-22), 

 do.; 9. Plusia gamma Z. (15), getting some nectar, (c) Bombycidae: 10. Dasy- 

 chira pudibunda Z. (o), as 6. 



