No. 510] COLOR SENSE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



349 



under side, directed their flight toward the aperture or 

 passageway under the leaves, remembering that the nectar 

 was obtained from the disc flowers. It is not justifiable, 

 says Kienitz-Gerloff, to infer that the color of uncovered 

 flowers plays no part in attracting insects, because when 

 they are covered the odor continues attractive. 



Plateau repeatedly mentions that the covered dahlia 

 heads were visited by species of Vanessa and Pieris as 

 well as by bees; but while it is admitted that the mental 

 attributes of bees exceed those of lepidoptera, yet the 

 conclusion that the latter were influenced by odor alone 

 is unwarranted. When a butterfly thrust its proboscis 

 beneath the leaves it showed perception of the form of the 

 inflorescence and memory of the location of the nectar. In 

 the following experience the butterflies exhibited keener 

 powers of observation than some of the less specialized 

 hymenoptera. The flowers of Iris versicolor are polli- 

 nated by bees; and the nectar, which is secreted at the 

 base of the sepals, is protected by the arched petaloid 

 styles, so that it can not be obtained by butterflies in the 

 legitimate way. I have seen Pamphila mystic Scudd. 

 standing on the ovary below the perianth and sucking the 

 nectar through the crevice between the sepal and the 

 style; while the larger banded red butterfly, Li metritis 

 disippns Godt. obtains the nectar in the same way from 

 above. On the other hand, an hymenopter, which escaped 

 capture, carefully examined the center of two flowers but 

 failed to locate the nectar. There is good reason, then, 

 to infer that the butterflies in Plateau's experiments were 

 influenced by the position and form of the dahlia beads 

 and the color of the rays below as well as by the odor. 

 The criticism of Kienitz-Gerloff is also as applicable 

 here as in the case of bees. 



The experiments of Plateau with covered dahlia heads, 

 therefore, were not well adapted for the purpose intended, 

 and afford an insufficient basis for drawing the conclusion 

 that bright coloration is not advantageous to flowers. 



• Knuth. P. Handbook of Flower Pollination, 1 : 205. 



