38 . ENTOMOLOGICAL NEWS. [February^ 



Flower and Insect Records from New Mexico. 



By T. D. A. COCKERELL. 



The following records are offered as a contribution to the 

 knowledge of the relations between insects and flowers. It is 

 perhaps hardly necessary to say that in New Mexico this sub- 

 ject is a new one, and there is no part of the Territory wh«;e 

 half an hour's observations at the right season will not yield 

 unrecorded facts. Unfortunately, however, this ease in mak- 

 ing new observations goes with the greatest diflSculty in getting 

 them recorded, for the reason that both flowers and insects are 

 imperfectly understood, and in many cases only identified by 

 the expenditure of much time, or through the assistance of 

 specialists. Even many of the conspicuous roadside flowers 

 have lately proved -to be undescribed, and there still exists an 

 uncomfortable possibility that several of the now-accepted 

 names may require revision, although they are endorsed by the 

 best authorities. 



A being from another planet, after visiting one of our great 

 city markets, might be so impressed by the variety of foods 

 offered for sale as to report that mankind ate everything, was 

 literally omnivorous. So a casual observer of the habits of in- 

 sects might infer that they visited all sorts of flowers, and that 

 it was useless to make records of flower-vists. Close study, 

 however, shows us that this is far from being the case, and 

 even those species which visit many kinds still have pre- 

 ferences and their aversions. At the same time it must not be 

 inferred in any case that the insects reported to visit a flower 

 are the only ones visiting it ; for setting aside those which 

 may have been collected but not yet identified, no flower has 

 yet been watched sufficiently for us to make an exhaustive list 

 of its insect- visitors. 



COMMELINACE^. 

 Commelina dianthifolia D. C. — Visited by Bovtbus priinelloe Ckll. 



IRIDACE^.. . 



Iris tnissouriensis Nult. — Visited by Bombus iridis Ckll. and Porter, B. 

 temarius Say, and B. juxtus Cress. 



