My Studio NeighborsGibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)
History
My Studio Neighbors
Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)
Natural history; Natural history -- Outdoor books
We have thus seen adaptation to the thorax, the eyes, and the face in
the three examples given. And the entrance of the flower in each
instance is so formed as to insure the proper angle of approach for the
insect for the accomplishment of the desired result. This direct
approach, so necessary in many orchids, is insured by various
devices--by the position of the lip upon which the insect must alight;
by the narrowed entrance of the throat of the flower in front of the
nectary; by a fissure in the centre of the lip, by which the tongue is
conducted, etc.
[Illustration: Fig. 10 C]
Many other species allied to the above possess similar devices, with
slight variations; and there is still another group whose structure is
distinctly adjusted to the _tongues_ of insects--adaptations not merely
of position of pollen masses, but even to the extent of a special
modification in the entrance to the flower and the shape of the sticky
gland, by which it may more securely adhere to that sipping member.
In the common pretty Purple-fringed Orchid, whose dense cylindrical
spikes of plumy blossoms occasionally empurple whole marshes, we have an
arrangement quite similar to the _H. orbicularis_ just described, with
the exception that the pollen-pouches are almost parallel, and not
noticeably spread at the base (Fig. 11). In this case the eyes of
sipping butterflies occasionally get their decoration of a tiny golden
club, but more frequently their tongues.
[Illustration: Fig. 11]
If, however, the butterfly should approach directly in front of the
flower, as in a larger blossom he would be most apt to do, he might sip
the nectar indefinitely and withdraw his tongue without bringing it in
contact with the viscid pollen discs. But in the dense crowding of the
flowers, over which the insect flutters indiscriminately, the approach
is oftenest made obliquely, and thus the tongue brushes the disc on the
side approached, and the pollen mass is withdrawn. But an examination of
this orchid affords no pronounced evidence of any specific intention.
There is no unmistakable sign to demonstrate which approach is
preferred or designed by the flower, and this dependence on the insect's
tongue or eye would seem to be left to chance.
In another closely allied species, however, we have a distinct provision
which insures the proper approach of the tongue--one of many similar
devices by which the tongue is conducted directly to one or the other of
the pollen discs.
[Illustration: Fig. 12]
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