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Show 432 HABITS OF INSECTS. CHAP. XI. fl I. es away I·n search of an·o ther bitte. n. f.l ower. Neve.r - theless, I once saw a humble-?ee visiting the hybncl Rhododendron azaloides, and. It ntered .tho Inouths f flow rs and cut holes into the others. Dr. o some a· . h h 1-I. Muller informs me that in the same 1stnct e . as seen soine individuals of Bombus rn~strucatus bormg through the calyx and corolla of Rlnnanthus ~lectm~o-l op Z~ us, and Other·s throuob ·h the corolla • alone. Different speci s of bees may, however, sometnnes be observed acting differently at the sam~ time on the saine plant. I have seen hive-bees suclnng at the n1ouths of ~he flowers of the common bean; hu1nble-bees of one lnnd sucking through holes bitten in tho calyx, and huinbl~bees of another kind sucking the little drops of fluid excreteJ by the stipules. Mr. Beal. of ~icbigan informs me that the flowers of the Missoun currant ( Ribes aureun~) abound with nectar, so that child~·en often suck them; and he saw hive-bees suclnng through holes made by a bird, the oriole, and at the same time humble-bees sucking in the proper Inanner at the mouths of the flowers.* This statement ~bout the oriole calls to mind what I have before said of certain species of hun1ming·bir~s bor~ng holes throu?h the flow0rs of the ·Brugmansia, w h1lst other speCies entered by the mouth. . The motive which impels bees to gnaw holes through the corolla seeins to be the saving of time, for they lose much time in climbing into and out of large flowers and in forcing their heads into closed ones. They w' ere able to visit nearly twi·c e as many £owe~ ' as far as I could judge, of a Stachys and Pentstemon * The flowers of ihe Ribes nre however sometimes perforated by humble-bees, and Mr. Bundy says that they 'vere able to bite through and rob seven ~ower~ of their honey in a romute · ' American Naturalist,' 1876, p. 238. CHAP. ·XI. PERFORATION OF TilE COROLLA. 43:1 by alighting on tho upper surface of th ll cl l . e coro cl. an sue nng throub()'h the cut holes ' t'h an b y enten.n o· . 1n the proper way. N evertheloss each bee b f' b · h . e ore 1t has . acl much practice, nlust lose some time in maln.ng each new perforation, especially when the per-foration has to be made throu()'h both 1 l r • • b ca yx an< cor.olla. rhls action therefore implies foresight, or bw h·i1cah· faculty w. e have abundant oviclenc · th · e In eu UI I:r;tg operations ; and rnay we not further believe that sorne trace of their social instinct that · ·f' k . f , IS, 0 wor .Ing or the good of other members of the con1- munity, may here likewise play a part? Many years ago I was struck with the fact that humble-bees as ~ general rule perforate flowers only when these grow In large numbers near too·ether J1 d b . l a gar en where there were some very large beds of Stachys cocaine a and of P entstemon argutus, every single flower was perforat~d, but I found two plants of the former species grow1~g quite separate with their petals ~u.ch scratched, showing that they had been frequently VISited by bees, and yet not a single flower was perforated. I found also a separate plant of the Pentstemon, and saw bees entering the mouth of tho corolla, a~d not a single flower had been perforated. In the following year (1842) I visited the same a-arden l . 5 severa tunes: on the 19th of July humble-bees were sucking the flowers of Stachys coccinea and Salvia gral,ami in the proper manner, and none of the corollas were perforated. On the 7th of August all the flowers were_ perf~rated, eve~ those on soine few plants of the Salvia which grew at a little distance from the great bed. On the 21st of August only a few flowers on the summits of the spikes of both species remained fresh~ and not one of these was now bored. Again, in my own garden every plant in several rows of the common bean 2 F |