SOME EXPKIMMKXTAL OBSERVATIONS CON- 

 CERNING THE BEHAVIOR OF VARIOUS 

 BEES IN THEIR VISITS TO 

 COTTON BLOSSOMS. I 



H. A. ALLARD 



In the past a great deal of experimental work lias been 

 carried on to determine bow flowers attract insects. The 

 conclusions reached have been various and have served 

 to provoke lively discussions as to the relative impor- 

 tance of the visual sense and the olfactory sense in guid- 

 ing insects to flowers. 



Beginning with the notable work of Sprengel, an 

 extensive literature has developed attempting to explain 

 the relative importance of colors and odors in attracting 

 insects to flowers. The conclusions reached have served 

 to provoke lively discussions as to the relative importance 

 of the visual and olfactory sense in guiding insects to 

 flowers. Herman Muller, Delpino, L. Errara, Lubbock, 

 Knuth and others firmly supported the view that flowers 

 advertised their location to passing insects by their con- 

 spicuous colored portions and considered odors of only 

 secondary importance. In 1879 Gaston Bonnier ad- 

 vanced the opinion that colored petals were of slight 

 importance in attracting insects to flowers. Later, after 

 much experimenting, Felix Plateau promulgated his 

 extreme views that the colored structures of blossoms 

 were of practically no use as a means of attracting insect 

 visitors, but that odors were the chief means by which 

 bees and other insects were led to find blossoms. Plateau 

 radically expressed himself as follows: 



