44 ANGIOSPERMAE—DICOTYLEDONES 



45-50 mm. in length, so that the proboscis (20 mm. long) of Bombus hortorum L- — 

 which I have repeatedly observed as a visitor — can reach only part of the nectar that 

 often accumulates in the spur to the depth of 30 mm., or more. The length of the 

 spur, and the pale colour of the blossoms, suggest that we have here to do with 

 hawk-moth flowers, but I have not observed any Sphingids as visitors at Kiel. 



19. Actaea L. 



Small protogynous pollen flowers, arranged in racemes. The whitish sepals, 

 petals, and stamens of the individual flowers serve to attract insects. 



94. A. spicata L. (Ricca, ' Oss. sulla fecondaz. incroc. d. veget. alp. « 

 subalp.'; Kerner, 'Nat. Hist. PI.,' Eng. Ed. i, II ; Delpino, ' Ult. oss.,' II: Herm 

 Miiller, ' Weit. Beob.,' I, p. 323; Kirchner, ' Beitrage,' p. 18.) — According to Ricca 

 Kerner, and Kirchner, the flowers are protogynous. The ovaries are greenish, bui 

 otherwise the flowers are almost completely white, except that the sepals have violei 

 tips, and the filaments are also in some instances of a pale violet hue. The stamens 

 are spreading, and their ends clavate. 



Visitors. — Buddeberg observed — in Nassau — a beetle (Byturus fumatus F.] 

 and an earwig (Forficula auricularia L.), the latter devouring pollen and apparentlj 

 the anthers as well. 



20. Cimicifuga L. 



Flowers with half-concealed nectar, secreted at the bases of the petals ir 

 cup-shaped pits. 



95. C. foetida L. (Kerner, 'Nat. Hist. PL,' Eng. Ed. i, II, p. 202.)— Th« 

 small whitish flowers are in long racemes, and smell like new honey. They posses; 

 shovel-shaped nectaries. This is all that is known about the flower-mechanism, anc 

 information regarding visitors is entirely lacking. 



21. Delphinium Tourn. 



Protandrous humble-bee flowers. The nectar is secreted in the ends of one or 

 two spurs, belonging to the two upper petals, and is concealed so deeply that it can 

 only be reached by humble-bees with a long proboscis. The sepals serve as the 

 chief means of attracting insects. The upper one is spurred, and its spur ensheathes 

 those of the petals. 



96. D. elatum L. (Herm. Miiller, ' Fertilisation,' pp. 83-5, ' Weit. Beob.,' 

 p. 322; Beyer, ' D. spont. Bewegungen d. Staubgefasse u. Stempel ' ; Schulz, 

 'Beitrage,' II, p. 204; Knuth, 'Bloemenbiol. Bijdragen.') — As Hermann MuUer has 

 explained in a masterly fashion, the spur of the sepal not only serves to protect the 

 nectar, but also compels the humble-bees that alight in search of nectar to do so 

 in the only way that effects pollination. The hollow, sharply conical end of the 

 posterior process of each upper petal secretes nectar, getting so full of it that some 

 enters the semi-conical cavity of this process, which is open on its inner side. As 

 the two spurs are closely apposed, they together form a hollow cone, splitting at the 

 end into two horns filled with nectar. The proboscis of a humble-bee — if long 



