170 VAHDEiE. Chap. VI. 



Acropera. Dr. Criiger says* that Gongora maculata 

 "often bears fniit in Trinidad. It is visited, exclu- 

 sively during the day, as far as I can see, by a splendid 

 bee, probably a Euglossa, but with the tongue nearly 

 twice as long as the body. The tongue passes out 

 behind the abdomen, and is there curved upwards. 

 As these bees only come for biting and gnawing the 

 anterior side of the labellum, the protruding tongue 

 touches or approaches the gland (i. e., viscid disc) at 

 every retrograde movement of the insect. By this it 

 can hardly fail to be loaded sooner or later with the 

 pollen-masses, which are then easily inserted into the 

 stigmatic cleft. I have, however, not as yet observed 

 this fact." I am surprised that Dr. Cruger should 

 speak of the pollen-masses being easily inserted, and I 

 suppose that he must have experimented with dried 

 and shrunken ones. The doiibled-up, immensely elon- 

 gated proboscis, projecting beyond the abdomen, would 

 answer as well as a pointed extremity to the abdomen, 

 which in the case of Acropera I imagine is the instru- 

 ment for removing the pollen-masses ; but I presume 

 that with Gongora it is not the viscid disc, but the 

 broad and free ends of the pollen-masses which are in- 

 serted into the stigmatic cavity. As in the case of 

 Acropera, I found it scarcely possible to insert the 

 pollen-masses of Gongora into the stigma ; but some 

 which were removed from the anther and left exposed 

 to the sun for nearly five hours, became much shrunk 

 and formed thin sheets ; and these could be inserted 

 without much difficulty into the cleft-like entrance 

 of the stigma. The pollinia attached to an insect 

 flying about in the torrid zone would shrink after a 

 time ; and the delay thus caused would ensure the 



' Jouru. Linn. Soo. Bot.' vol. viii. 18G4, p. 131. 



