22 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



■were fresli, I saw bees occasionally get in and 

 out at the side of the tube, without touching the 

 stigma at all. Sometimes they went in the tube 

 as first described, and then slipped out at the 

 side instead of backing out. Several went on 

 top of the flower and tried to find other ways to 

 get at the sweets below, but in every instance 

 they failed, and sooa left that position. 



At the Botanical Garden, Cambridge, Mass., 

 I noticed bees on several foreign species of Iris, 

 in some of which, as Iris pseudocarus of South- 

 ern Europe, the tube is more nearly perfect, so 

 that it is impossible for them to find a side en- 

 trance or egress. 



The corolla of Andromedctr floribunda Pursh, 

 is nearly urn-shaped, hanging with the open end 

 or entrance down. The ten long anthers open 

 at the apex by two round holes, and each 

 anther is supplied with two horizontal or re- 

 flexed awns on the outside next the corolla. 

 Bees in abundance visit the flowers, thrusting 

 their long tongue or proboscis against the awns 

 or horns of the anther, as they reach in for nec- 

 tar which is secreted farther on. By hitting 

 the awns the anthers are disturbed, and the holes 

 brought close against some part of the bee's 

 probocis, which is well sprinkled over with 

 pollen, as well as the other mouth parts hang- 

 ing below the flower. Bees were examined, and 

 found to have the parts mentioned covered with 

 the four-grained pollen which is peculiar to a 

 few plants. 



I cannot see how pollen alights on the stigmas 

 of this plant, for in falling out in the natural 

 way it must pass by to the ground. But the in- 

 sect puts the material in place every time as 

 efi"ectually as a mason can stick mortar on the 

 ceiling of a room. The Blueberry ( Vacciriium) 

 is similar in structure to the Andromeda^ except 

 that the awns are wanting. Probably most 

 flowers which droop or hang down are fertilized 

 by insects. For otherwise, how can the pollen 

 find the tip of stigma, when the style is sus- 

 pended ? 



The mode of fertilization in the American 

 Laurel {Kalmia) has already been well de- 

 scribed in the Naturalist^ but I may be excused 

 for adding my testimony concerning this beau- 

 tiful and interesting plant. 



When the anthers are liberated from the 



pockets in the corolla, the stamens suddenly 



. straighten and throw jets of pollen often for a 



foot or more, ''acting," as Professor Gray 



used to say, "like the boy's pea-shooter." 



Many times when the dew was on, I have 

 seen the common honey-bee and other Hymen- 

 optera about these flowers. When the bee 

 alights on a flower, the style comes up between 

 the legs where they join the body, or sometimes 

 farther back against the abdomen. 



In this position they turn around, as though 

 they were balanced on a pivot, generally in- 

 serting the tongue outside of the filament, and, 

 while doing this, pull the stamens with their 

 legs toward the centre of the flower, releasing 

 them and freqiiently receiving the shots of 

 pollen on their own body. A single visit from 

 an insect is sufficient to release all the anthers. 

 By noon it was a diflicult matter to find a flower 

 "Which had not been visited in this way. Insects 



seem to be absolutely necessary for the perfect 

 fertilization of Kalniia angustifoUa and K. lati- 

 folia, for I tied small nets over some flower- 

 clusters, {corymbs^) and found that when the 

 bees were kept away, the flowers withered and 

 fell off, most of the anthers still remaining in the 

 pockets, and the filaments so decayed thattheir 

 elasticity was entirely gone. The very few an- 

 thers thus liberated were probably brought out 

 by the shaking of the bushes by the wind. 



Considerable pollen was found stuck on the 

 corollas by the nectar, which was uncommonly 

 abundant, as no insects of much size were al- 

 lowed to remove it. The wind might have car- 

 ried some of this pollen to other flowers, or it 

 might have dripped from those above to flowers 

 below in drops of water, (there were two 

 showers during these experiments); but I infer 

 this was not the case in the examples mentioned, 

 because the flowers, especially the stigmas, re- 

 mained fresh much longer than those which 

 were left exposed to the visits of insects. 



The flowers of several Honeysuckles, of the 

 Mustard Family, (Gruciferoi), of the Bladder- 

 nut {Stapliylea trifolia L.) were noticed, and in 

 each case the conclusion reached was, that the 

 chances are better for cross fertilization than 

 otherwise. 



The long cylindrical, bell-shaped corollas of 

 the Purple Foxglove {Digitalis purpurea) are 

 much visited by bees. The flowers are mostly 

 obliquely suspended, and in all thus situated, 

 the stamens and style are close to the upper 

 side of the corolla. The insects alight at the 

 opening of the corolla, on the side opposite the 

 stamens. This is generally the lower side as 

 the flowers hang, then reaching above, they 

 catch hold of the style and stamens, and crawl 

 in with the back down, brushing the whole 

 length of the underside of the body, first 

 against the stigma, and farther on, against the 

 anthers. 



They seem unable to get into the flower with- 

 out catching hold of the stamens, and it is often 

 with considerable difiiculty that they enter at 

 all, for they are obliged to hold on to the edge 

 with the hind legs until they can catch the 

 stamens with their fore legs. 



In the Evening Primrose ( Oenothera 0,auca 

 Michx., Oe. Missouriemis and linearis Michx.) 

 the stigmas project beyond the anthers, and the 

 flowers vary from an erect to a horizontal posi- 

 tion. There are four large stigmas for each style, 

 spreading in the form of a Greek cross. 



The pollen, slightly held together by delicate 

 threads, is collected in the morning by great 

 numbers of small wasps, about two-thirds the 

 size of honey-bees. I have often watched them 

 while coming down on, or just over, the stig- 

 mas, leaving pollen as they went in, and after 

 collecting what they could, fly out at the side 

 without touching the stigma. On one of these 

 plants, at two difl'erent times, a wasp was eager- 

 ly trying to pick up the pollen which had been 

 left on the stigmas ; the more they tried to col- 

 lect, the more they scattered pollen about on the 

 glutinous surface, until, as if discouraged or 

 disgusted, they rapidly cleaned their legs of all 

 the tangled mass, and flew aM^ay, leaving that 

 cluster of flowers entirely. 



