CARYOPHYLLEAE 171 



429. M. rubrum Garcke (= Lychnis diurna Siblh., and, in part, L. dioica L.). 

 (Sprengel, op. cit. ; Herm. MllUer, op. cit. ; MacLeod, Bot. Jaarb. Dodonaea, Ghent, 

 vi, 1894, pp. 155-6 ; Schulz, ' Beitrage,' I, p. 12 ; Kerner, op. cit. ; Loew, ' Bltiten- 

 biol. Floristik,' p. 400 ; Knuth, op. cit.) — The species bears butterfly flowers, and is 

 trioecious. The flower mechanism agrees with that of the last species, but the 

 nectar is concealed at a depth of only 12-15 mm. The calyx-tube is i^ cm. long in 

 male flowers and i^ cm. in female ones. The petals have claws of equal length, and 

 their limbs are nearly 1 cm. longer. They are held so closely together by the calyx 

 that an opening of only 4 mm. in diameter is left. This opening is surrounded by 

 a corona 3-4 mm. high, which contains the anthers in male flowers and the stigmas 

 in female ones. In male flowers the five stamens opposite the sepals mature before 

 the other five, but there are never more than two or three anthers in the entrance of the 

 flower, filling it completely, so that the proboscis of an insect, however slender, must 

 touch them when probing for nectar. The stigmatic papillae are all directed inwards, 

 leaving a passage to the nectar in the middle, so that an insect coming from a male 

 flower must touch them with the part of its body which is dusted with pollen if it 

 wishes to get at this. In the female flowers nectar is secreted on the base of 

 the ovary, in male flowers on the inner sides of the bases of the filaments, where the 

 vestigial pistil is situated. In male flowers the nectar is protected by hairs on 

 the lower thirds of the filaments, and perpendicular to their surfaces, while in female 

 flowers the somewhat overhanging ovary serves the same purpose (Knuth, ' Bl. u. 

 Insekt. a. d. nordfr. Ins.,' p. 41). 



Besides unisexual flowers, hermaphrodite ones have been locally, though rarely, 

 observed, e. g., by Schulz at Halle a. S. They are markedly protandrous. 



Visitors. — As a regular pollinator of the faintly odorous flowers, I observed — 

 at Kiel — only Bombus hortorum Z. Apis only paid brief visits, soon going off to 

 some other species. The male flowers were also visited by po-dvg. Syrphidae 

 (Eristalis, Melanostoma). On the Dovrefjeld Lindman also noticed humble-bees 

 and flies, while Herm. Miiller in the Alps saw 12 Lepidoptera and a hover-fly 

 (' Alpenblumen,' p. 200). 



Rossler observed the moths Dianthoecia filigrana Esp. and B. nana Rott. at 

 Wiesbaden; Loew — at Varenna ('Beitrage,' p. 63) — saw a hover-fly, Leucozona 

 lucorum Z., endeavouring to suck nectar. 



H. de Vries (Ned. Kruidk. Arch., Nijmegen, 2. ser., 2. deel, 1875) noticed a 

 humble-bee, Bombus terrester Z., in the Netherlands. 



Willis ('Flowers and Insects in Gt. Britain,' Part I) observed the following in the 

 neighbourhood of the south coast of Scotland: — A. Diptera, Syrphidae: 1. Platy- 

 cheirus albimanus F., on S flowers only, po-dvg. B. Hymenoptera, Apidae: 

 ?.. Bombus terrester Z., freq., skg. 



In Dumfriesshire 3 humble-bees and 2 hover-flies have been recorded (Scott- 

 Elliot, ' Flora of Dumfriesshire,' p. 24). 



The flowers are sometimes perforated by humble-bees (Schulz). 



430. M. apetalum Fenzl ( = Wahlbergella apetala />.). — This northern species 

 certainly does not bear Lepidopterid flowers. Lindman could not find any nectar in 

 the flowers, although there are nectaries in the form of small swellings on the inner 



