
CORRESPONDENCE. 
Editor of the American Naturalist : 
SIR: — In a paper on * The Colors of Northern Polypetalous 
Flowers," in the March number of the Watura/ist, p. 295, Mr. Lovell 
States that Z/a/ctus nelumbonis confines its visits to the flowers of 
Nuphar (Nymphea) advena. In Transactions of the American Entomo- 
logical Society, Vol. XVII, p. 316, 1890, it is recorded that this bee was 
taken on flowers of Nuphar, Nymphza, and Nelumbo in Illinois, on 
Nuphar and Nymphza in Florida, and on N uphar in Wisconsin. It 
has been mentioned as a general visitor of Nymphzeacez in Ameri- 
can Naturalist, Vol. XXIX, p. 107; Botanical Gazette, Vol. XXVI, 
PP: 29, 36; ZIustrirte Zeitschrift für Entomologie, Bd. V, p. 310; Bota- 
nisches Centralblatt, Bd. LXXXV, pp. 299, 302; Botanischer Jahres- 
bericht, Bd. XXVII, Abth. 2, p. 463. No doubt the female gets 
pollen exclusively from flowers of N ymphzacez ; but I have found 
her visiting for nectar the flowers of Eriocaulon gnaphalodes, Utri- 
cularia inflata, Berlandiera subacaulis, and Verbena urticifolia. 
On page 235, in regard to the visitors of Umbelliferz, he says: 
"In Germany there have been collected on the caraway 55, on the 
wild carrot 61, and on the wild parsnip 118 insects. Probably the 
number of visitors to many species exceeds 200.” The plant called 
wild parsnip by Mr. Lovell is Heracleum spondylium. In Transactions 
of the Academy of Science of St. Louis, Vol. V, p. 459, 1890; Bota- 
nisches Centralblatt, Bd. XLVI, p. 110; Botanischer Jahresbericht, 
Bd. XVIII, Abth.r, p. 509, visitors are credited to several species as 
follows: Zizia aurea, 131; Eryngium yuccifolium, 147; Tiedemannia 
rigida, 156; Heracleum lanatum, 174; Sium cicutifolium, 191 ; Cicuta 
maculata, 238; Pastinaca sativa, 27 [o 
In the literature the status of Müller's view regarding the influence 
of dull yellow colors on the visits of beetles is about as follows: 
The general proposition was refuted by Bonnier in 1879.! In the 
Tyrol, Schulz ? not only found beetles on such flowers, but also dis- 
tinctly stated that the general proposition was not true for that region. 
» pap m Sci. r Bot., ser. vi, vol. 8, p. 
? Beiträge zur Kenntniss e Boitudiuigeciunéhtungen und Geschlechtsver- 
theilung bei den {Scape Aa ii à (1800), p- 64. 
599 
