LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 581.16 R54f •I...C ^7 Biology tmsmau 'I'he i)ers()n charpinjj this material is re- si)(>nsil)le for its return to the library from whiih it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of booki art reotoni for dixiplinary action and may roult In dismiiial from the Univerilty. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 4m AUG 211997 AUG 1 3 2001 ^ ? 2U09 "RR^?lD APR 1 7 1991 MAR 03 1992 MAY 1 c 199^ L161—01096 FLOWERS AND INSECTS LISTS OF VlSllOKS OF FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TIIRFE FLOWERS By CHARLES ROBERTSON CARUNVILLE, ILUNOIS \')1H THE SCIENCE PEESS FEINTING COMPANY LANCASTEE, PA. Copyrighted 1929 By Charles Robertson M01.0«l u //. / (i> -Ti^^ PREFACE Beginning September, 1S87, and ending July, 1899, the papers mentioned in the bibliography record 7,817 visits to 278 flowers. The i)resent work records 15,172 visits to 441 flowers, nearly twice as many, excluding visits to 12 wind flowers. Mueller's "Fertilisa- tion of flowers" records 5,231 \isits, and his " Alpenblumen" gives 8,491. The ob.senations were made within ten miles of Carlinville. The number of species of bees found on flowei-s at Carlinville is 296: compared with New York, 189; Connecticut, 231; New Jersey, 250. The list of visitors contains types of 232 new species of insects. In identifying insects assistance has been afforded in Hyraenop- tera by W. H. Ashmead, Nathan Banks, J. C. Crawford, E. T. Cresson, R. A. Cushman, A. B. Gahan, W. J. Fox, L, 0. Howard, Thco Pergande, and S. A. Rohwer; in Diptera by J. M. Aldrich, D. W. Coquillett, C. W. Johnson, J. R. Malloch, R. R. Parker, C. H. T. Townsend, and S. W. Williston; in Lepidoptera by G. H. French and C. A. Hart; in Coleoptera by C. A. Frost, C. A. Hart, Charles Liebeck, and Samuel Hen.shaw; in Hemiptera by C. A. Hart, H. M. Parshley, and P. R. Uhler; in Neuroi)tera by Nathan Banks and J. C. Crawford. In 1887 names were rather readily obtained for Syri)hidae, Bombyliidae, and Conopidae. In 1888 for 384 specimens of Diptera, estimated as 89 species, but certainly containing many more, only 17 specific determinations were received. It was hard to get names for Tachinidae until 1891-2 when Townsend supplied them. By Coquillett the Empididae were identified in 1894-5, and many Tachinidae and other Diptera in 1896-1901. For Sar- cophagidae only a few names, some erroneous, were obtained until 1920 when they were determined by Parker. In 1892-1901 many non-aculeate IlNTnenoptcra were identified by Ashmead. Many manuscript names were supplied by him. Some of these have never been described, while others have been described under other names. Particular difficulty was experienced in the ca.se of the bees, by far the most important for the investigation. Of the bees recognized only about 39.8 per cent are mentioned in Cresson 's catalogue of 1887, and of those only about 46.6 per cent were identified for both sexes. At present I know both sexes in 81.7 per cent of the local bees. 3 705533 4 FLOWERS AND INSECTS—XXVI Generally, determinations of bees are unreliable except when both sexes of all of the species are known. When only one sex is known the other is probably mixed with that of another species. Formerly in Agapostemon four species had been distinguished in the females but the males were referred to another species, A. tricolor. There was little chance of separating another real species and this condition had the advantage of indicating five species instead of four. Sometimes the species are separated only in the males and the females ignored. Determinations of the females are twice as important as those of the males since they make twice as many flower visits. On account of the impossibility of getting all of the bees identi- fied it was necessary to describe the new species and match the sexes, thus making a digression which interrupted the study and involved an intrusion into a field which there was no inclination to cultivate. Of all bees the bumblebees are the easiest to collect and identify. Eight species occur at Carlinville. Two species, Bomhus ameri- canorum and Bomhias auricomus, had the females mixed under the name of Bomhus pennsylvanicus and were referred to the male of Bomhias auricomus, while the male of Bomhus americanorum was referred to another genus as Apathus? elatus. The female of another species was identified for me as Bomhus ridingsii. The worker was mentioned in 13, 579, 1891, and the male in 4, 65, 1891. But Bomhus ridingsii turned out to be a sex name of Bomhus hi- maculatus, the prior name of the male of the same species. From my experience I think that a specialist is competent to make determinations, or compare types, only at the time when he is making a careful study of a particular group. In 32 cases I re- ceived two different specific names for the same insect. Your species monger describes the obvious and easy cases, the males and females as distinct species, and passes on the difficulties to some one else. North America is a large region and entomology, or even an order of insects, is a large subject. A specialist's relia- bility bears an inverse relation to the size of the region and the extent of the subject in which he affects authority. Students of bees describe species from all over North America, and even farther, but any one of them, and all of them together, can not identify both sexes of the bees of any locality. All of the observations given here were made for the purpose of ascertaining the different kinds of insect visitors. Collectors ' notes are worthless as data of anthecology because the collector is looking out for particular kinds of insects and not for aU of the kinds which CHARLES ROUERTSUS 5 occur on the flowers. They are worthless as data of insect habits because the collector is certain to select the llowei-s which are most favorable for obsen'ation and which are most attractive to the kinds of insects he is after. Collectoi-s' notes almost invariably fail to indicate what the insects are doiuf? on the flowei-s and whether they affect pollination or not. The followinj? persons made additions to the local lists of the plants mentioned—Prof. I. H. Benham: Blephilia hirsula, Eupa- torium perfoliatum, Teucrium canadense; Georpe T. Palmer: Erujeron ramosus, Sftachys palustris; Robertson Palmer: Ellisia nyctflaca, Jlypoiis hirsutn, Pohmonium rcpfans, Smnbucus cana- densL<:, ScutcUana imrvula; H. B. Parks: Achillea viilU folium, Apocynum cannabinum, Blephilia ciliata. Cassia chamaccrista, Ceanothiis americanus, Cicuta ma^ulafa, Cucurhita pepo, Eryngium yuccifolium, Eulophtts amencanus, Lcpachys jrinnata, Monarda fistulosa, Pastinaca satira, Polyyala sanguinea, Prunus americana, P. serotina, Pycnantheminn flesuosum, P. pilosum, Rhus copallina, R. glabra, Rosa humilis, R. setigera, Salix nigra, Samhucus cana- densis, Stenanthixim august ifolimn, Veronica inrginica. In some cases the lists were based on the older nomenclature, so that I did not care to rewrite and rearrange them. In the pre- liminary' list some of the later specific names are given in paren- thesis. After changing Danais archippus to Aiiosia plcxippus it is a little tiresome to change it back to former name, and then to Danaus. An3'how, biological nomenclature is s\nion}Tnical. not bi- nomial. The older names usually have more important relation to anthecological literature. Authors will have to use them whether they like them or not. Often the synon^Tny is a subject of con- troversy. Of 455 plants mentioned here, about 70 have their names chanircl in fJrav's Manual. Flowers and Insects Signs, Abbreviations, Etc. ab = abundant; c = collecting pollen; cf = collecting and feeding on pollen ; csp = collecting stray pollen ; cult = cultivated ; expl = ex- ploratory visit; f= feeding on pollen; fq = frequent; fsp = feeding on stray pollen; gn = gnawing; in cop = in copula; int = introduced, not indigenous; Ip = labial palps; Ma = non-social long-tongued bee flower; Mas = social long-tongued bee flower; Mi = non-social short- tongued bee flower; Mis = social short-toiigued bee flower; mp = maxillary palps; n = non-pollinating; = ornithophilous; ol = oli- golege ; = Pol polytropic ; pred = predaceous ; R = red and all dark colors; S = sphingophilous ; sc = sucking nectar and collecting pol- len sf = ; ; sucking nectar and feeding on pollen ; W = white Y = yel- low, greenish to orange = = = ; (^ male ; $ female ; $ worker. When no other indications are used after a name, the insect is counted as sucking nectar legitimately and effecting pollination. Dates connected by a dash after "visitors observed" do not indicate the number of days, but only the period within which the observa- tions were made. Signs in parentheses after a group name mean that the signs belong to each one of the insects mentioned in the group. For example, "Halict. ($, c)" means that all of the fol- lowing Ilalictidae are females and all collecting pollen. After family names the ending "idae" is not repeated, as Ifalict. for Halictidae. When only one species of a genus was ob- served, the specific name is not repeated in the lists. Thus Apis = Apis mellifera $. This avoids repeating mellifera 216 times. Four hundred and forty-four genera have only one species each, which it is not necessary to repeat. The plant names used are those of the 7tli edition of Gray's Manual of Botany, 1908. Numbers in parentheses, for example (12: 459), refer to the titles and pages in the bibliography, or to species and individuals.