196 MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS 



I have seen many specimens with the pollen 

 masses withdrawn, and others with their stigmas 

 well covered with the grains. Though I have 

 never seen an insect at work upon it in its haunt, 

 the whole form of the opening of the flower 

 would seem to imply a bee, particularly a bum- 

 blebee. If we insert the point of a lead-pencil 

 into this opening, thus imitating the entrance of a 

 bee, its bevelled surface comes in contact with the 

 viscid discs by the rupture of a veil of membrane, 

 which has hitherto protected them. The discs 

 adhere to the pencil, and are withdrawn upon it 

 (Fig. 9). At first in upright position, they soon 

 assume the forward inclination, as previously de- 

 scribed. The nectary is about the length of a 

 bumblebee's tongue, and is, moreover, so amply 

 expanded at the throat below the stigma as to 

 comfortably admit its wedge-shaped head. The 

 three progressive diagrams (Fig. 10) indicate the 

 result in the event of such a visit. 



The pollen discs are here very close together, 

 and are protected within a membraneous cup, in 

 which they sit as in a socket. As the insect in- 

 serts his head at the opening (A) it is brought 

 against this tender membrane, which ruptures and 

 exposes the viscid glands of the pollen masses, 

 which become instantly attached to the face or 



