196 On the Species of the Genus Primula in Essex. 
observed specimens of a species of Syrphus (Dipteron) visiting 
Primroses, as well as a large black bumble-bee with orange- 
red band, which visited several flowers on three plants of 
Primrose, and others on Blue Bell, Violet, and Banunculus 
ficaria. A very large striped bee visited eighteen flowers of 
Primrose and Hybrid -elatior, but I saw it avoid two flowers 
of true P. elatior on one plant. On April oth last, in Westley 
Wood, it being a hot day, I was surprised to see a Brimstone 
butterfly (Gonepteryx rhamni ) visit five flowers on as many 
plants of Primrose; I also observed a Small-white butterfly 
(Pieris rapes) pay a single visit to Primrose. Humble-bees, I 
believe, fairly often visit Primroses on hot days, but the 
butterflies perhaps did so on the strength of the proverb that 
“beggars must not be choosers,” there being very few other 
flowers out so early. 
It is perfectly evident, however, that the Primrose differs 
from its nearest relatives in not depending mainly on bees 
for its fertilization. On this subject I have obtained one 
observation which, although it does not settle the matter, yet 
may perhaps help to do so. There is a small black beetle of 
about one-sixteenth of an inch long, Meliyethespicipes, Sturm., 44 
44 [For the verification of the name of the beetle (one of the Nitidulidas) 
we are indebted to our member Mr. T. E. Billups, who has had large 
experience as a collector of Coleoptera. Mr. Billups points out that the 
species is very commonly found in company with Meligetlies ceneus and 
M. viridescens in the flowers of the Composite, such as Hawkweeds, 
Dandelions, &c. Hermann Muller (‘Fertilization of Flowers,’ Eng. Transl., 
1883) gives a list of no less than sixty-three flowers in which species of 
the genus occur abundantly. Mr. Billups says—“Their food is un¬ 
doubtedly to a large extent the pollen of the plants, and one or two 
Continental authorities upon Coleoptera are inclined to consider them 
carnivorous, feeding upon the smaller insects they meet with in the 
flowers.” Muller notes the very varying habits of the beetles in different 
flowers ; in some he says they feed upon pollen, in others that they lick 
up the nectar, and of M. ceneus he observes that he had seen distinctly 
with a lens this small beetle gnawing the inner surface of the petals and 
stamens of Banunculus lanuyinosus. Mr. Christy’s hypothesis that spe¬ 
cies of Meliyethes are the principal agents in the cross-fertilization of 
Primroses is one that must be tested by observation and experiment; but, 
supposing it to be true, we find then a difficulty in conceiving how the 
peculiar dimorphic structure of the flowers arose, or even in comprehending 
