THE ENTOMOLOGY OP HELIANTHUS. 193 



sunflower plants. We also find Coccinellids (especially Hippo- 

 damia convergens, Quer.) and Chrysomelids {Chrijsomela excla- 

 mationis, Fabr.). 



Are we then to conclude that the American insect fauna, 

 which seems to be specially adapted to Helianthus, is in reality 

 not so at all ? That all these insects are in a general way 

 adapted to plants of this type, or even to plants in general, and 

 special, precise adaptations do not exist ? By no means ; there 

 are in America numerous special sunflower insects, whose place 

 cannot be truly occupied by alien species ; but, nevertheless, it 

 is evident that the majority of the species which may be collected 

 from Helianthus are only loosely adapted to it, and could get 

 along very well were this particular genus to become extinct. 



It will be noted that Mrs. Anderson mentions no butterdies. 

 Until I came to investigate the subject, I supposed that sun- 

 flowers were freely visited by butterflies, to the needs of which 

 the long tubular corollas seem specially fitted. Observations on 

 the red sunflowers in my garden at Boulder did not confirm this 

 idea. On July 30th I saw one Basilarchia weidemeyerii, Edw., 

 on the flowers. It was especially noticeable that the introduced 

 species, Pieris rapce, L., which abounded in the garden would 

 fly among and over the sunflowers, never visiting them, although 

 it would visit Gaillardia. On September lOfch, in Boulder, I saw 

 a Colias eurytheme, Bdv., visit a wild H. lenticularis for an 

 instant, and then go to a Grindelia. 



Dr. Max Ellis informs me that at Vincennes, Indiana, he 

 took Junonia coenia, Hb., at flowers of garden H. anniius. 



Dr. H. Skinner, of Philadelphia, who has had so much 

 experience with butterflies, writes me that he cannot recall a 

 single instance of butterflies visiting sunflowers. Mr. Geo. 

 Wheeler writes me that H. annuus in English gardens is 

 frequently visited by Pyrameis atalanta, L., but he has never 

 seen any other butterfly on it, and it is useless in his experience 

 as an attraction for moths. (It does attract some moths at 

 Boulder ; e. g. Stibadium spumosum, Grote.) M. Buysman 

 writes that he has not seen any insects visiting Helianthus at 

 the Botanical Garden, Lawang, Java, but " perhaps the almost 

 incessant rain is the cause." Knuth cites seventeen species of 

 Lepidoptera, all but three being butterflies, from flowers of 

 Helianthus in America ; but these are all from the perennial 

 sunflowers, H. tuberosus, grosseserratus, divaricatus, mollis and 

 strumosus. Graenicher adds, from Wisconsin, twelve Lepi- 

 doptera (nine butterflies) at flowers of H. strumosus, and three 

 butterflies at H. giganteus. Thus it appears that, while the 

 perennial species are quite freely visited, the annual ones are so 

 rarely, in America or Europe ; though no doubt careful observa- 

 tions will bring to light a long list of instances. 



When we come to Lepidoptera feeding on the plant as larvae, 



