378 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. XI, No. 8, 
POLLINATION NOTES FROM THE CEDAR POINT REGION. 
Wm. Bembower. 
An extremely interesting phase of the study of Ecology in the 
vicinity of the Ohio State Lake Laboratory is that of pollination. 
There are various reasons for this: the plants range from purely 
Hvdrophytic to quite Xerophytic, with numerous intermediate 
groups, and there are represented self-pollinated as well as all of 
the various classes of cross-pollinated plants. 
Another interesting feature is that during the summer term 
only one specimen of the Honey Bee (Apis mellifica) was taken on 
Cedar Point. The supposition is that there are no colonies of the 
bees on the Point and that the occasional visitor came over from 
the mainland, three miles distant. A common pollinator is thus 
eliminated from the Cedar Point list. 
Of the self-pollinated types of flowers, as found on Cedar 
Point, there are the cleistogamous flowers of the violet which are 
fertilized before the buds open, as well as the various types in 
which self-pollination is inevitable from the situation of the stig- 
matic surface below the discharging anthers. 
In the cross-pollinated types we find most of the different 
general classes represented: as, wind, pollinated, insect-pollinated, 
bird-pollinated, snail-pollinated, and water-pollinated flowers. 
The wind-pollinated flowers are easily recognized by their 
inconspicuousness; by the absence of any particular attraction for 
animals, such as odors, food, etc.; and by the abundance of pollen. 
The water-pollinated type is represented by the Eel Grass (Val- 
lisneria spiralis) in the coves on the south shore of the Point. 
Of the bird-pollinated plants only a few observations were made. 
The Humming Bird was observed to visit the Pickerel Weed 
(Pontederia cordata) and the Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occi- 
dentalis) about the 20th of July, at about which time this bird is 
recorded to put in its appearance each year on the Point. This is 
presumably after the nesting season, after the young have flown 
from the nest, and as in the two plants mentioned seeds which 
were approaching maturity were observed previous to this date 
the conclusion is that the bird may aid in pollination but is not 
essential to it. 
Turning now to the Entomophilus or insect-pollinated plants 
which comprise the largest class on the Point we find many adap- 
tations between plants and insects. Many ingenious theories 
have been devised to explain why certain insects are attracted to 
certain flowers and considerable experimentation has been carried 
on in attempts to prove these theories. For the most complete 
work on this subject we have referred to a three-volume work by 
Knuth. 1 Quotations will be made from this work having ref- 
'Knuth, Dr. Paul. Handbook of Flower Pollination. 3 vols. Translated 
by J. R. Ainsworth Davis. Oxford. 1906-1909. 
