InaecMif" 

 Ii 



Insight 



SCIENTIFIC SIDE-LIGHTS 



344 



morphos, some of which measure seven 

 inches in expanse, are generally confined to 

 the shady valleys of the forest. They some- 

 times come forth into the broad sunlight. 

 When we first went to look at our new resi- 

 dence in Nazareth a Morpho menelaus, one 

 of the most beautiful kinds, was seen flap- 

 ping its huge wings like a bird along the 

 veranda. This species, however, altho much 

 admired, looks dull in color by the side of 

 its congener, the Morpho rhetenor, whose 

 wings, on the upper face, are of quite a 

 dazzling luster. BATES Naturalist on the 

 River Amazon, ch. 3, p. 643. (Hum., 1880.) 



1684. INSECTS, ACUTE SENSES OF 

 Bees, Butterflies, and Wasps Guided by 

 Sight or Scent. That bees and butterflies 

 have this power [of distinguishing between 

 colors] is manifest. They may be watched 

 flying from flower to flower, disregarding 

 all other parts of the plants. . . . Odors, 

 like colors, draw insects to flowers. After 

 observing how bees come swarming into a 

 house where honey is largely exposed, or 

 how wasps find their way into a shop con- 

 taining much ripe fruit, it cannot be ques- 

 tioned that insects are to a considerable ex- 

 tent guided by scent. Being thus sensitive 

 to the aromatic substances which flowers ex- 

 hale, they may, when the flowers are in 

 large masses, be attracted by them from 

 distances at which the flowers themselves 

 are invisible. SPENCER Biology, pt. v, ch. 

 3, p. 268. (A., 1900.) 



1685. INSECTS, CAPTURE OF, BY 



SUNDEW Tentacles of Leaf Close as if by 

 Design upon Victim Action Irresistible of 

 Natural Mechanism. When an insect 

 alights on the central disk [of the sundew 

 leaf], it is instantly entangled by the viscid 

 secretion, and the surrounding tentacles 

 after a time begin to bend, and ultimately 

 lasp it on all sides. Insects are generally 

 killed, according to Dr. Nitschke, in about 

 a quarter of an hour, owing to their tracheae 

 being closed by the secretion. If an insect 

 adheres to only a few of the glands of the 

 exterior tentacles, these soon become in- 

 flected and carry their prey to the tentacles 

 next succeeding them inwards; these then 

 bend inwards, and so onwards, until the in- 

 sect is ultimately carried by a curious sort 

 of rolling movement to the center of the 

 leaf. Then, after an interval, the tentacles 

 on all sides become inflected and bathe their 

 prey with their secretion, in the same man- 

 ner as if the insect had first alighted on the 

 central disk. It is surprising how minute 

 an insect suffices to cause this action: for 

 instance, I have seen one of the smallest 

 species of gnats (culex), which had just 

 settled with its excessively delicate feet on 

 the glands of the outermost tentacles, and 

 these were already beginning to curve in- 

 wards, tho not a single gland had as yet 

 touched the body of the insect. Had I not 

 interfered, this minute gnat would assuredly 

 have been carried to the center of the leaf 



and been securely clasped on all sides. 

 DARWIN Insectivorous Plants, ch. 1, p. 13. 

 (A., 1900.) 



1686. INSECTS FERTILIZING 

 FLOWERS Horticulturist Aided by Science 

 The Smyrna Fig Culture Made Possible in 

 the United States. That an article bearing 

 this title [" Smyrna Fig Culture in the 

 United States "] should be prepared by an 

 entomologist may seem at first glance un- 

 usual, not to say curious; but as is well 

 known to those informed on the subject, and 

 as will be readily seen by the readers of this 

 article, the problem of establishing the 

 Smyrna fig industry in the United States 

 has been very largely an entomological prob- 

 lem. . . . Since time immemorial it has 

 been known that in Oriental regions it has 

 been the custom of the natives to break off 

 the fruits of the capifig, bring them to the 

 edible-fig trees, and tie them to the limbs. 

 From the caprifigs thus 'brought in there is- 

 sues a minute insect, which, covered with 

 pollen, crawls .into the flower receptacles of 

 the edible fig, fertilizes them; and thus pro- 

 duces a crop of seeds and brings about the 

 subsequent ripening of the fruit. .. . . 

 In the caprifig there is said to exist in 

 Mediterranean regions three crops of fruit 

 the spring crop, known as " profichi," the 

 second as " mammoni," and the third as 

 " mamme," the latter remaining upon the 

 trees through the winter. The fig insects 

 (the Oriental species being known as Blasto- 

 phaga grossorum, Gravenhorst) overwinter 

 in the mamme, oviposit in the profichi, de- 

 velop a generation within it, each individual 

 living in the swelling of a gall-flower (a 

 modified and infertile female flower), and 

 issue from it covered with pollen, enter the 

 young flower-receptacles of the Smyrna fig, 

 which are at that time of the proper size, 

 and make an attempt to oviposit in the true 

 female flowers, fertilizing them at the same 

 time by means of the pollen adhering to 

 their bodies. 



[As the result of the researches and ex- 

 periments of the Entomological Division of 

 the Department of Agriculture, this insect 

 (the Blastophaga) has now been naturalized 

 in California, so that in the year 1889-1900 

 more than six tons of edible figs were pre- 

 pared for market, as the result of the insect- 

 life contained in less than 450 winter figs, 

 where previously the fruit of thrifty 

 Smyrna fig-trees had always fallen and per- 

 ished while immature.] 

 HOWARD Smyrna Fig Culture in the 

 United States (Year-book of the Department 

 of Agriculture, 1900, pp. 79-106.) 



1687. Profitable Result 



of Scientific Experiments A Great Indus- 

 try Resulting from Microscopic Research. 

 Chemical analysis made by Professor Hil- 

 gard, of the University of California, 

 showed that figs submitted to him by Mr. 

 Roeding contained 1.42 per cent, more sugar 

 than the best imported Smyrna figs. Samples 

 which the writer has received are of excep- 



