lOI 
Pollination of the Primrose. 
regular of all the visitors, having been observed on seven days out 
of the eight, and on the occasion when he was not observed 1 think 
this was due to my visit being earlier than usual, i.e. before 11 a.m. 
A fresh wind from the north-west was blowing at the time and very 
few insects of any kind were to he seen, so that in all probability 
Bombylius would have made its appearance a little later in the 
morning. 
Bombylius , as has been noticed by other observers, hovers about 
the flowers in the graceful manner of a humming bird or humming 
bird hawk-moth and is said by some not to settle on the flower. 
Though this may be the case with certain flowers, yet in almost every 
instance when it visited the primrose, I saw this graceful insect 
ultimately settle on the flower, and, after its wings had come to 
rest, push its head as far as possible down the corolla-tube and 
remain in that position for some time, evidently sucking nectar. 
This is no doubt necessitated by the very long corolla-tube of 
the primrose, and it is an important fact, as the tuft of hairs on the 
top of the head thereby comes in contact with the pollen of the 
short-styled forms, and becomes a means of pollinating the long- 
styled flowers. 
After visiting a few T primroses (three or four) on the earlier 
colder days, and as many as eighteen or twenty in warmer weather, 
Bombylius rested on a dead leaf, well protected by its colouring, 
and cleaned off the pollen grains that were adhering to its head and 
proboscis. Considering the regularity of the visits of Bombylius 
and the relatively large number observed in really fine weather, 
eight in an hour and a half on April 19th, I have no doubt 
that this insect is an active agent in the pollination of the 
primrose. It seems admirably suited to obtain nectar from the 
depths of the tubular corolla with its long proboscis, and it seemed 
at this time of the year to confine its attention to the primrose. 
Only on one occasion did I observe a Bombylius sucking nectar 
from the celandine which is so largely visited by the ordinary 
bees. 
Various species of Bombylius are known to visit other species 
of Primula, as for instance the Bardfield Oxlip, and even on the 
primrose Archer Briggs 1 observed Bombylius medius, a slightly 
smaller species, as did also Cobelli, 2 1892. 
As stated above there is a considerable difference of opinion 
Briggs, A. l.c. 
2 Cobelli, K. Zool. Bot. Ver. Wien. Abhandl. 
