a eT 
1893. ] flowers and Insects. 49 
rounded by a dense circle of hairs, which form a crest over 
the cavity and completely conceal the nectar. Some of the 
hairs are bent downwards, and their tips are turned into the 
cavity. Besides concealing the nectar from small short- 
tongued intruders which could not effect pollination, the hairs 
serve as foot-holds for insects to cling to when extracting the 
sweets. About this nectary the petals are purple-dotted— 
the dots serving as path-finders. 
Four divergent stamens about 13" long alternate with the 
petals, while the stigma occupies the center of the circle. 
Self-pollination is prevented by the strong proterandry. 
hen an insect clings to one of the crested. nectaries, its 
body is fairly certain to touch the anthers on that side, as 
well as the stigma. The size of the flower, however, indi- 
cates that the insect, in order to do this, must be of large 
size. I expected to see the flowers visited by bumble-bees, 
which, after all, may prove to be the principal visitors, but 
after watching them on June roth and 11th the only insect 
observed sucking, which could effect pollination, was Polistes 
metricus Say 2. It clings to the stamens and style with its 
posterior legs and can readily strike the anthers and stigma. 
Halictus coriaceus Sm. visits the flower for honey and pol- 
len, but is too small to do any good. 
ELLISIA NYCTELEA L.—The plant is common, rises about 
2", is scattered in thin patches, and is commonly rendered 
quite inconspicuous by the surrounding vegetation. The 
rather diffuse branches bear only a few flowers, which bloom 
in succession, so that, in their visits, insects are as likely to 
pass between flowers of distinct plants as from flower to 
flower on the same plant. The flowers vary in position from 
erect to pendulous, the calyx lobes, which equal the corolla 
in length, often concealing it from view. 
The corolla measures about 4 or 5™" in length and expands 
about 6"". The tube is about 4™" long and is as wide as 2™, 
so that it readily admits the head and thorax of small bees. 
The border is turned out nearly horizontally and is divided 
into five rounded lobes. With the exception of three to five 
purplish dots on the middle of the lobes, the color is white. 
A few hairs on the inner wall of the corolla tube seem to have 
little significance. 
Five stamens alternate with the corolla lobes and bend to 
the center of the flower, so that to reach the nectar, insects 
Mo. Bot. Garden, 
1894 
