RANUNCULACEAE 13 



a8. A. apennina L. (Knuth, ' Blutenbiol. a. d. Ins. Capri.) — Slightly proto- 

 gynous pollen flowers. When the violet blossoms have opened in the sunshine their 

 diameter is 5 cm. They exhale a faint odour of cumarin. The numerous blue-black 

 stamens are arranged in several whorls round the similarly coloured styles. The 

 stigmas are mature shortly before the anthers dehisce, so that at this stage cross- 

 pollination may result from insect-visits. The dehiscing anthers are so near the 

 stigmas that automatic self-pollination must necessarily take place, and this seems to 

 be the regular thing in Capri, where insect-visits are very rare, despite the ver}' 

 conspicuous character of the flowers. 



Visitors. — I only once saw a small fly (Muscidae) po-dvg. 



29. A. japonica Sieb. et Zucc. (Knuth, ' Bloemenbiol. Bijdragen.') — This 

 species — a native of Japan — is one of our ornamental garden plants. The diameter 

 of the homogamous flowers is about 7 cm. The stamens at first lie close to the 

 sepals, rendering self-pollination difficult, and favouring cross-pollination. Subse- 

 quently the stamens become erect, so that automatic self-pollination may result from 

 contact of anthers and stigmas. 



Visitors. — I observed the following po-cltg. and po-dvg. insects. — A. Diptera. 

 (a) Muscidae : i. Musca domestica Z. ; 2. Sarcophaga carnaria Z. (b) Syrphidae: 

 3. Eristalis tenax Z.; 4. Syrphus ribesii Z. B. Hymenoptera. Apidae: 5. Bombus 

 terrester Z. 5- Of these, Elristalis and Bombus regularly alighted upon the middle 

 of the flower, proceeding thence to the anthers, so that they almost always effected 

 cross-pollination. The other visitors sometimes alighted in the middle of the flower, 

 sometimes on the anthers, and consequently efi"ected either cross- or self-pollination, 

 as the case might be. 



Loew observed in the Berlin Botanic Garden. — A. Diptera. Syrphidae: 

 I. Eristahs tenax Z., po-dvg. ; 2. Syritta pipiens Z., po-dvg. ; 3. Syrphus balteatus 

 Deg., po-dvg. on the stamens ; 4. S. ribesii Z., as the last. B. Lepidoptera. 

 Rhopalocera ; 5. Pieris brassicae Z., repeatedly inserting the proboscis between the 

 ovaries and apparently boring for sap with its tip. C. Orthoptera. 6. Forficula 

 auricularia Z. 



Loew further observed — in the same place — the following upon the variety 

 purpurea.— ti.. Diptera. Syrphidae: i. Syrphus balteatus Deg., po-dvg. on the 

 stamens; 2. S. coroUae /^., po-dvg. on the anthers. B. Hymenoptera. Vespidae: 

 3. Vespa germanica F., settling and vainly trying 10 suck. 



7. Adonis Dill. 

 Protogynous pollen flowers, opening and closing periodically. Their vivid red 

 or yellow petals serve for attraction. 



30. A. vemalis L. (Beyer, ' D. spont. Bewegungen d. Staubgefasse u. 

 Stempel ' ; Kerner, ' Nat. Hist. PL,' Eng. Ed. i, II ; Herm. Miiller, ' Weit. Beob.,' I, 

 p. 315; Knuth, 'Bloemenbiol. Bijdragen.') — The yellow flowers — according to 

 Miiller's account — expand in the sunshine to form a disk 40-70 mm. in diameter, 

 visible from a distance, and turning towards the sun. When the flower opens, the 

 numerous stigmas are already mature, while the still more numerous stamens are not 

 yet fully developed and are directed outwards, so that in this condition cross-pollina- 

 tion may result from insect-visits. The stamens gradually erect themselves centri- 

 petally, and at the same time the anther-lobes on the sides of the broad connective 

 dehisce laterally. When all the stamens are ripe they project a little above the 



