WHAT GOES ON IN THE APPLE BLOSSOMS 217 
tions on them. The tools needed will be individual insect 
nets, cyanide bottles* and lenses. 
The program of field work will consist of a visit to apple 
trees in full bloom and observations on the doings of the 
flower visitors. Trees with low-hanging boughs, having 
abundant blossoms within reach from the ground, will be best. 
If wild crab-apple trees or even haw-apples are more con- 
venient, they will serve equally well. The visitors will be 
seen, coming and going, or flitting from flower to flower, each 
kind after its own habit. The bees may be captured in a 
cyanide bottle directly, but the more wary flies and butterflies 
will require the use of the net. A quick deft stroke will 
land them in the net, and a quick turn of the handle will make 
a fold in it and keep them in the bottom until they can be 
removed in a cyanide bottle, inserted unstoppered for the 
purpose. Effort should be concentrated on watching the 
insects, not on catching them. Their comings and goings 
and how they obtain the nectar, should be observed care- 
fully. Then a specimen of each kind of visitor should be 
captured for identification. 
The record of this study should consist of: 
1. A diagram of a longitudinal section of the flower as 
mentioned above. 
2. A similar diagram with a bee added in the position 
taken when obtaining nectar. Show position of proboscis 
and feet carefully. 
*A cyanide bottle for killing insects may be made by placing half an 
ounce, more or less, of cyanide of hate (a deadly poison) in the 
bottom of any wide-mouthed bottle, covering it with dry sawdust or 
other good absorbent, pressing down on top of it a few discs of stiff 
blotting paper, and affixing a POISON label. The discs should fit the 
inside of the bottle tightly and will stay in place better if lightly gummed 
at their edges when inserted. Most insects are very quickly killed when 
shut inside. The nets also may be made at home but not so easily. 
Those offered by the Simplex Net Company of Ithaca, New York, are 
recommended as being light, strong and inexpensive. 
