Humble-bees are the usual fertilisers; but I have more than once seen
flies (Rhingia rostrata) at work, with the under sides of their bodies,
heads and legs dusted with pollen; and having marked the flowers which
they visited, I found them after a few days fertilised. (4/6. I should
add that this fly apparently did not suck the nectar, but was attracted
by the papillae which surround the stigma. Hermann Muller also saw a
small bee, an Andrena, which could not reach the nectar, repeatedly
inserting its proboscis beneath the stigma, where the papillae are
situated; so that these papillae must be in some way attractive to
insects. A writer asserts 'Zoologist' volume 3-4 page 1225, that a moth
(Plusia) frequently visits the flowers of the pansy. Hive-bees do not
ordinarily visit them, but a case has been recorded 'Gardeners'
Chronicle' 1844 page 374, of these bees doing so. Hermann Muller has
also seen the hive-bee at work, but only on the wild small-flowered
form. He gives a list 'Nature' 1873 page 45, of all the insects which he
has seen visiting both the large and small-flowered forms. From his
account, I suspect that the flowers of plants in a state of nature are
visited more frequently by insects than those of the cultivated
varieties. He has seen several butterflies sucking the flowers of wild
plants, and this I have never observed in gardens, though I have watched
the flowers during many years.
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