6 BULLETIN 542, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
• 
mexicana Macq.) a bluish black species with a very broad body about 
1.3 centimeters long, which was seen only once or twice. 
Among the Hymenoptera one of the most important was the honey- 
bee (Apis mellifera L.) ; yet this insect did not appear to visit the 
mango with much regularity, being found in considerable numbers 
at certain times but scarcely coming near the trees on other days, and 
only observed in certain sections, presumably where apiaries were 
near by. Perhaps the irregularity of its visits may be due to the fact 
that it does not find much honey on the mango flower and visits it 
only when there is a scarcity of other material. The industry with 
which the honeybee goes from flower to flower, systematically work- 
ing over the surface of the disk with its proboscis to obtain all the 
nectar present, at the same time turning its body around in a circle 
and almost of necessity coming in contact with the anther in its cir- 
cuit of the disk, makes this insect one of the most effective pollinating 
agents. 
Two other Hymenoptera which visit the mango with great fre- 
quency are Stenodynerus sp. and Stenancistrocerus bifurcus Rob., small 
wasps with rather slender dark-brown bodies, which in most sections 
were found more commonly than the honeybee. Gorytes sp. is an- 
other small wasp somewhat similar in appearance to the last and 
about as common; Cerceris sp. is smaller and was found much less 
commonly. A somewhat larger wasp, with a particularly prominent 
head, Hypocrabro 10-maculatus Say, and a smaller and lighter col- 
ored one, Tachytes sp., are two others which were occasionally found. 
Of the larger wasps, several visited the mango with great frequency, 
especially during the early morning hours, but it is doubtful whether 
they are as effective in transferring pollen as the honeybee, the smaller 
wasps mentioned above, and flies, since their long legs usually keep 
their bodies at some distance from the essential organs of the flower. 
A small species, ArachnopTiroctonus sp., is probably the most com- 
mon one observed and was seen with great regularity, though not in 
such numbers as several of the smaller wasps. Palinodes abdominalis 
Cress., Chalybion coeruleum L., Polistes crinitus Fab. var., P. rubigi- 
nosus Lep., and Sceliphron cementariwn Dury are others which were 
taken, but these probably did not have a great deal to do with polli- 
nation. 
The sole lepidopteran which was collected on mango flowers was 
the coon tie butterfly {Eumaeus atala Poey), a species very common 
in southern Florida and one for which the mango seems to possess 
considerable attraction. Several dozen specimens were noted on a 
single tree at one time, and some of them were seen taking up the 
nectar from the disk with their long probosces. Several of these but- 
terflies were examined to see if pollen could be found clinging to their 
