JANUARY, 1902. GHAENICHEK FLOWERS ADAPTED TO FLESH-FLIES. 
In the list of Smilax hispida with its sweet-scented flowers, 
different famiHes of hymenopterous insects are represented, the 
higher bees as well as the lower bees, wasps and parasitic Hymen- 
optera. Among the flies the specialized Syrphidae are present to 
the number of four. The greenish color of the flowers does not 
seem to favor the visits of the larger Diptera (macromyiophilous) . 
As regards the proportion of flies to Hymenoptera and other vis- 
itors, Smilax hispida corresponds with any sweet-scented flower 
of a similar structure, as for example any umbelliferous flower 
with freely exposed nectar, and it offers therefore nothing re- 
markable. 
With Smilax ccirrhata and 5^. herbacea the case is different. 
The list of S. ecirrhata contains only four Hymenoptera, all of 
them lower bees (Andrenidae) against 41 flies. Among the 
latter only one is a Syrphus-fly. while of the remaining forty 
nearly all are flesh-flies or flies of similar food-habits. In the 
list of S. herbacea we find one Syrphus-fly against 29 other flies, 
and besides, there are ten Hymenoptera represented, most of them 
lower bees. In this species the preponderance of the flesh-flies 
and their all'es is not as distinct as in the case of S. ecirrhata and 
this may be accounted for by the fact, that the odor of ^. herbacea 
is not quite as strong and less putrid than that of 6^. ecirrhata. The 
flowers of the latter are attractive to the flies of the genera Lu- 
cilia, Phormia, Calliphora, Morellia, Helicobia and Sarcophaga 
to such an extent, that in favorable weather these flies may be 
seen swarming around the plants, especially when the latter occur 
in patches. More than once the presence of such flowers, hidden 
from view by the surrounding vegetation, has been betrayed to me 
by the gathering of the flies. The bad odor of the flowers does 
not prevent some of the lower bees of the genera Andrena, Halic- 
tus, Agapostemon and Augochlora from collecting pollen on the 
staminate flowers. Their visits are only occasionally observed and 
as these same bees rarely resort to the pistillate flowers, they are 
of little or no advantage as cross-pollinizers. The scarcity of the 
flower-flies of the family Syrphidae on the flowers of 6^. ecirrhata 
and S. herbacea is remarkable, and shows that the odor of these 
flowers is not agreeable to them. In fact, I have witnessed a single 
visit of the same species, Meso gramma geminata to each of the 
sapromyiophilous species of Smilax. 
From the above we must infer that the flies which naturallv 
resort to carrion and other decomposing substances are the princi- 
pal visitors of Smilax ecirrhata and 5. herbacea. They pay atten- 
tion to both staminate and pistillate flowers, eagerly feeding on 
honey and pollen, and are undoubtedly of the greatest irnportance 
to these flowers as pollen-carriers. 
