1899 ] ON MIMETIC RESEMBLANCES 127 



Mimetic Flowers. — These are by no means uncommon. Bracts 

 are often coloured, and so to say answer for a corolla, as in Poinsettia, 

 Euphorbia, some Umbelliferae, and "everlastings." But the mimicry 

 may be much more exact, and so close, indeed, as to deceive the 

 unwary. Thus the four white bracts of species of Comus render the 

 inflorescence exactly like a flower of a Clematis. Parwinia tulipifera, 

 as the name implies, is very like a tulip ; while Euphorbia jacquiniacf or a 

 has five scarlet lobes on the rim of the involucral cup, thereby 

 mimicking a corolla with five petals. 



The papilionaceous corolla of the Leguminosae is imitated by the 

 so-called " falsely-papilionaceous " corolla of Polygala. It is also seen 

 in the gamopetalous corolla of Collinsia bicolor (Scrophularineae), the 

 front petal of which closes over the stamens and pistil precisely as 

 do the keel petals of Genista or other member of the Leguminosae. 

 A similarly shaped corolla is seen in some species of Pelargonium 

 (Hoarea group). Again, a spike of flowers of an orchid, Pisa cooperi, 

 is very like one of a larkspur with its upturned and elongated spur. 



Lastly, Croats (Irideae), Sternbergia (Amaryllideae), and Colchicum 

 (Liliaceae) have precisely similar perianths, though representatives of as 

 many orders. 



General Conclusion. — When all the above facts (and many more 

 might have been given) are considered together, and when it is noted 

 that in many cases experimental verification shows that the peculiarities 

 in question are the results of the definite or direct action of the 

 environment, the inductive evidence is overwhelming that mimetic 

 results are in all cases the consequence of the environment influencing 

 the protoplasm to adaptive response. It will thus be seen that natural 

 selection is quite uncalled for, and, in fact, has no raison d'etre in the 

 origin of any structure whatever. 



80 Holland Park, London, W. 



