HYMENOPTERID FLOWERS 



121 



Ichneumon Flowers also appear to exist, i.e. flowers that are specially visited 

 by Ichneumons (Ichneumonidae). These are designated by the symbol Hi. Too 

 few of the visitors of Listera ovata (Fig. 33) are known to permit of a final conclu- 

 sion about them. It seems probable, however, that this flower is visited almost 

 exclusively by Ichneumons, and by a Longicorn beetle (Grammoptera laevis) the 



Fig. 31. Lonicera alpigena, L., a Wasp Flower. 



shape of which corresponds in a remarkable way with the form of the labellum. 

 Sprengel (' Entd. Geh.,' p. 409) long since observed this beetle as a pollinator of 

 Listera ovata in Brandenburg. Hermann Muller (' Fertilisation,' p. 530) repeated 

 the observation 80 years later in Westphalia. Sprengel also observed numerous 



Fig 32. Cotoneaster vulgaris, Lindl, a Wasp Flower. 



Darwin, Muller, 



Ichneumons with adherent pollinia on the flowers in question, 

 and MacLeod confirmed his observation. 



If. therefore, Listera ovata is to be regarded as an Ichneumon flower, the same 

 may hold true for L. cordata, which grows in the shade of sub-alpine woods, for it 



