Knsect Vfsftors. 211 



long since were it not for the fascination it has 

 always offered to the bumble-bees. The color 

 of the sepals is a peculiar sky-blue, rayed with 

 pale violet; the two spur-petals that project 

 above the two yellow-bearded petals being dark 

 brown and showing almost black against the 

 contrasting color. Between these the bee or- 

 dinarily plunges his proboscis into the nectary ; 

 but the large black bumble-bee I refer to rarely 

 if ever does this, but drives his spear into the 

 spur of the flower from the outside, close to the 

 base of the spur where the honey is stored. 

 Perhaps this is done to save time and labor, or 

 it may be owing to his short proboscis. He 

 performs his work rapidly and assiduously, often 

 remaining until stupefied from his banquet. 

 This species has a habit of hovering over the 

 flowers or in mid-air- with a loud bombination, 

 while chasing his mate, and seems more alert 

 and quickly alarmed than others. When D. 

 Wheelerii is in blossom little attention is paid 

 to any other larkspur or any other flower of 

 the garden, though numerous varieties of the 

 bee-larkspur are far more odoriferous. The 

 dark centers of the flowers are, of course, a 

 conspicuous guide to the nectary ; but similar 

 centers exist in many other varieties. 



So marked is the preference shown by this 



