Insect-Attractions in Flowers. 
165 
them, nor do they visit the white nocturnal flowers. Fallen fruit 
however proves a great attraction, and these butterflies often find 
their way into moth-traps baited with bananas. I have heard of as 
many as thirty Amathusias being taken in a single moth-trap. 
The only time I have ever so far as I remember seen Ainatlmsia 
at a flower was one early morning when I saw one drinking water from 
the flower-head of Nicolaia imperial is, but of course not fertilizing 
the flowers. 
The Sphingidae are mostly nocturnal or rather crepuscular, and 
almost certainly go by scent in seeking honey, but doubtless the 
white colour of the flower serves to call their attention to the 
source of the odour. The flowers most visited by these insects are 
Crinums, Lonicera, Asystasia coromandeliana (primrose-coloured 
variety), Isotoma, and a Hymenocallis. These flowers, except 
Asystasia, are only scented at night, and during the day are only 
visited by Trigona, a bee always on the search for pollen and any 
sticky substance which it can utilize for its resinous nest. Sphinx 
convolvuli often comes into the house in the evening, when there is 
a bunch of flowers on the table and will go all round the bunch 
picking out the flowers of the honeysuckle, and probing their tubes 
with its proboseis, taking no notice of the other flowers. 
Although there are many diurnal white flowers in the gardens, 
Eugenias, Khodainnia, Eucharis and the like, I never saw any of the 
Sphingidae take any notice of them. These diurnal flowers are 
quite scentless by night. 
The humming bird hawk-moths Macroglossa and Cephonodes 
seek for honey in the evening before sun-down, disappearing at 
dusk. They seldom visit the nocturnal flowers, but search for such 
plants as Lantana, Duranta (flowers blue), Clcome speciosa (pink), 
Coffee (white, and strongly scented in the afternoon), and other 
such plants. They like the other Sphingidae seem more attracted 
by scent than colour. But some years ago I observed a curious 
fact which seemed to me to show that these insects, at least, went 
very much by form, regardless of colour or scent, and I do not think 
that due attention has been paid to the attraction to insects of the 
form of flowers. While passing through the Suez Canal on a 
steamer a number of Macroglossas (apparently M. Stellatarum) flew 
into the smoking-room. This room had all round it a row of white 
enamelled tiles on which were rude representations of flowers in 
blue. The figures were alternately of a Chrysanthemum-like 
composite and a cup-shaped blossom more or less resembling a 
tulip. The moths flew round the room, passing over the chrysan- 
