102 
F. E. Weiss on the 
as to whether the larger humble bees visit the primrose or not. On 
five different occasions I have observed Bombus, chiefly, I think, 
Bombus terrestris visiting primroses, and generally in such a 
manner as to ensure the pollination of the flowers. In two cases, 
however, I noticed the humble bee not sucking at the flower but 
moving all over the corolla, both at the front and the back of the 
flower, apparently endeavouring to obtain the honey by illegitimate 
means, just as Darwin observed them at times biting through the 
corolla in the case of the cowslip, of which they are regular visitors. 
I ought to state clearly that Bombus was a more frequent and 
regular visitor of other flowers than the primrose, and was more 
commonly seen on the willow, the dandelion, the violet, and the 
barren strawberry. 
A smaller humble bee however, Anthophora furcata , though 
less plentiful in the district, was more often seen on the primrose to 
which it seemed to confine its attention. There can be no doubt 
that this insect is both able to gather honey from the primrose 
flower and also to effect its pollination. The female insects were 
more frequent visitors than the males, from which they differ 
greatly in appearance, and they seemed to be also more efficient as 
pollinating agents, as they remained longer at the flowers. 
Apis mellifica L appeared to be less hardy than the humble 
bee or Bombylius , for it only gathered honey on warm days and 
was not observed at all on several days, when Bombylius , Bombus 
and Anthophora were about. 
The bees visited chiefly the celandine, barren strawberry, 
wood anemone, violet and dandelion. Occasionally a stray one 
would visit a number of primroses, but did not spend much time on 
each. They were evidently endeavouring to obtain the nectar, 
which however, they were unable to reach. They stayed a little 
longer on the short-styled flowers from which they collected a little 
pollen. They were obviously not the regular visitors of the flowers 
though they could no doubt bring about cross fertilization of the 
long-styled forms. 
The crossing of the long-styled flowers would also be effected 
by the visits of Andrena Gwynana ; but this insect must be placed in 
a different category from the bee, for it is a regular and busy visitor 
of the primrose and more commonly seen by me on its flowers than 
on those of other plants. It was only observed towards the close of 
my visit when the weather was much milder, but then it was present 
in considerable numbers. It gathered the pollen greedily, and in 
