JANUARY, 1902. GRAENICHER — FLOWERS ADAPTED TO FLESH-FLIES. 
29 
Flowers Adapted to Flesh-Flies^ 
By DR. S. GRAENICHER. 
The flies which are to be considered in the present paper, in 
regard to their relations to certain flowers, agree more or less in 
their food-habits, and are members of the famihes Sarcophagidae, 
Muscidae and of a few other closely allied families. They are the 
scavengers among the flies, feeding either in their larval state or 
as perfect insects on decaying organic matter, but also resorting to 
flowers in search of honey and pollen. Some of these are popu- 
larly known as flesh-flies, carrion-flies, dung-flies, etc., according 
to the nature of the substances to which they usually pay their at- 
tention. They are guided to these substances by the putrid odor 
emanating therefrom, and for this reason we might expect any 
flower, producing a similar odor, to be especially attractive to 
them. Delpino has given an account of two species of Stapelia 
from the Cape of Good Hope, plants belonging to the family As- 
clepiadaceae, the flowers of which are carrion-scented and are 
visited by flesh-flies (sapromyiophilous) . The Papaw, Asimina 
triloba, Dunal, a plant well known in this country, especially 
throughout the Southern States, on account of its edible fruit, 
produces dark purple flowers which are also sapromyiophilous. 
From Southern Illinois Robertson ( i ) has reported the visits of 9 
flies to these flowers, seven of which are flesh-flies, or other flies 
of similar food-habits. At Firenze, in Italy, Delpino observed 
seven species of flies on the flowers of cultivated specimens of the 
Papaw. 
In our surroundings there occur three species of Smilax (fam- 
ily Smilaceae), two of which, vS. ecirrhata and 6^. herbacea, pro- 
duce flowers of a disagreeable odor, as the name carrion-flower, 
given to one of them, implies, while the flowers of the third 
species, vS'. hispida, are sweet-scented. In color and structure of 
the flowers all three species agree, but they differ essentially in the 
odor of the flowers. For this reason they furnish a suitable ma- 
terial for determining the effect of the putrid odor on the various 
types of flower-visiting insects. 
Besides these two sapromyiophilous species of Smilax, a third 
plant is represented in our flora with flowers of an offensive odor, 
and of a dark purple color besides. This is Euonymns atroptirpurr 
eus, the Waahoo, a member of the family Celastraceae, and it will 
(1) Chas. Robertson, Flowers and Insects, Trans. Acad. Sc. St. Lottis, Vol. 
VII, No. 6, pp. 154-5. 
