142 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



This insect is prefer- 

 ably one of the small, 

 day - sphynx moths, 

 for no bees nor bee- 

 tles can reach the 

 nectar. Suppose, 

 then, a sphynx comes 

 to sip and, humming 

 and hovering on the 

 wing, he thrusts his 

 tongue into the nec- 

 tary. He will be 

 pretty sure in so do- 

 ing to touch one of 

 the glands of a pol- 

 len club and, retreating, to pull the pollen mass 

 out of its pocket and carry it away on his tongue. 



For a moment the club stands out stiff, at right 

 angles to the tongue, but straightway it curves for- 

 ward and downward ; and by the time that our moth 

 has found another nectar-wxll, the stigma above 

 that well will receive the touch of the pollen — a 

 thing that could not happen if the club retained its 

 erect position. 



The reader can "play the moth" to the fringed 

 orchid, using a pencil-point for proboscis, withdraw 

 the pollen clubs and watch them promptly wilt and 



HABENARIA ORBICULATA AND 

 CLEAR-WING MOTH 



