186 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Diptera exhibit greater constancy, though by no means absolute. A much 

 greater degree of constancy is manifested by the ApidsB : and this becomes 

 all bat absolute in the hive-bee. It is an interesting circumstance that this 

 constancy appears to increase in proportion to the part performed by the 

 insects in carrying pollen from flower to flower. A much larger number 

 of observations is, however, needed in order to determine with cerainty any 

 general law, and especially a careful microscopic examination of the pollen 

 attached to the proboscis, mandibles, legs, and under side of the abdomen 

 and thorax. As regards preference for particular colours, the Lepidoptera 

 under observation paid 70 visits to red or pink flowers, 5 to blue, 15 to 

 yellow, and 5 to white ; the Diptera paid 9 visits to red or pink flowers, 8 to 

 yellow, and 20 to white; the Hymenoptera paid 303 visits to red or pink 

 flowers, 126 to blue, 11 to yellow, 17 to white 



There followed a communication '•' On the methodic habits of Insects 

 when visiting Flowers," by Mr. R. M. Christy. The author records in 

 detail the movements of 70 insects whilst engaged in visiting 2-100 flowers. 

 He tabulates the results, and concludes that insects do possess a decided 

 preference for a number of successive visits to the same species of flower, 

 although this is not invariably the case. Most of the observations were 

 made on bees, which seem to perform tbe fertilisation of at least one half of 

 all tbe flowers fertilised by insects in this country. Butterflies, as a rule, 

 seem to wander purposelessly in their flight; nevertheless some species, 

 including the Fritillaries, are fairly methodic. The author believes that it 

 is not by colour alone that insects are guided from one flower to another of 

 the same species, and the sense of smell is suggested. Bees, he avers, have 

 but poor sight for long distances, but good sight for short distances. Of 55 

 humble bus watched, 26 visited blue flowers; 18 of the bees were methodic 

 in their visits, 9 only partially methodic and 5 not so: 13 visited white 

 flowers; 5 were methodic and 8 not at all: 11 visited yellow flowers, of 

 which 5 were methodic and 6 not: "28 visited red flowers; 7 were methodic, 

 9 nearly so, while 12 were not. Mr. Christy inclines to the opinion, though 

 admitting paucity of data, that bees in a flight from their nest confine their 

 visits exclusively or principally to one species of plants. 



The Secretary, Mr. G. J. Romanes, read "Observations on living 

 Echinodermata." He stated that starfish possess a sense of smell which is 

 not localised in any particular organs, such as the ocelli, but is distributed 

 over the whole of the ventral surface. The function of the Pedicillarice 

 was shown by some further experiments corroborative of those already 

 published by him, in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' to be that of seizing 

 upon and arresting the movements of fronds of sea-weed in order to give 

 the pedicels time to establish their adhesions. It was also shown that the 

 righting movements of Echinus when inverted on its aboral pole (which 

 are performed by means of the pedicels) are due to central co-ordination 



