954 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vou XXXIII. 
come from its own anthers, or the anthers of another blossom. 
In dozens of flowers examined the pistil held pollen grains on 
its recurved tip. 
It seems quite improbable that any of the bees or butterflies 
could force an entrance to this flower, while its scarlet color 
indicates that it does not bid for help from the night flying 
Lepidoptera. Several blossoms were found in which there was 
a small puncture at the base of corolla tube. These were at 
first attributed to bees, but as I later found a lepidopterous 
Salvia Coccinea Linn. 
1. Blossor s, % natural size, 2. Enlarged aee acre showing connectives raised by birds’ 
bill a pas pollen being deposited on the feathers. 3. Free ends of filaments, connectives 
and anthers ; enlarged. A, anthers; C, connectives; /, free portion of filamen 
larva in the act of making one of these holes, I now doubt if 
the bees use the trick with this salvia. 
In the humming birds we have an agent fitted at once for 
tripping the stamen lever and carrying a load of pollen. Anna’s 
Hummer has a bill .68 inch long, while a smaller species found 
here, Selasphorus rufus, has an exposed culmen .64 inch in 
length. These easily reach the bottom of the salvia corolla 
tube, which is .§2 inch from base to mouth. 
Dr. William Trelease has described a similar fertilization of 
Salvia splendens Sellow by the Ruby-throated Hummer ( Trochi- 
lus colubris), American Naturalist, April, 1881. Dr. Trelease 
thus describes the life of an individual blossom : 
“ The life of a given flower may be divided into three periods : 
in the first, the anthers only being mature, it is staminate in 
function ; in the second, some pollen remaining in the anthers, 
