Vol. VI, No. 3.] The Pollination of Flowers in India. 105 



[N.8.] 



The sequence is sufficiently illustrated by the figures above, 

 for further description to be unnecessary. The stigma is 

 5-angled, thick and raised into ridges: it is without papillae. 



Fig. 3. — Stigma seen from above and in section, much enlarged. 



Dalbergia Sissoo, Roxb. 



In 



in Nagpur, I had opportunities of making observations on Dal- 

 bergia Sissoo, because my tent was pitched under a tree in 

 full flower. Apis dorsata, Fabr., visited this tree in great 



awn 



but not working steadily all day. That it should come in the 

 grey of the first dawn and go in the dim light when night had 

 nearly closed in, is interesting, for in Britain the hive bee — Apis 

 mellifica, Linn. — does not leave its hive except in broad day- 

 light ; and even the longer- working wasp is never out in the 

 twilight. Once halting in a * ziat ' (a shelter without walls) at 

 the village of Pa-ngat, in Tenasserim, during the month of 

 March. I heard from 4-30 a.m. into davli^ht a steadv contimi- 



as 



was 



possible to see, Apis was found to be diligently visiting the 



Mesua ferrea, Linn 



ziat. 



dorsata 



turnal at times, but suggests it: and on rare occasions in Cal- 



as I rea d 



after dinner. 



The following is the history of a Sissoo flower as exempli- 

 fied on the tree in Nagpur. The flower opens in the early 



afternoon 



As more and more new 



(A pi 



and they work diligently until night has almost closed in. All 



are 



the morning after, when, after sunrise— after a duration of 

 forty-four hours— they fade, and most of them fall off the tree. 

 The mornings are times when many bees are busy : they work 

 hard from the time when the east is only just red until about 

 9 a.m. : after which they desert the trees for the most part until 



afternoon. 



dorsata 



readily reaches. Apis florea, Fabr., visited the flowers in less 

 numbers with the Apis dorsata, but at hours neither so early 



