318 
DARWINISM 
CHAP. 
insects that most* abound where they grow. Thus the gentians 
of the lowlands are adapted to bees, those of the high alps to 
butterflies only; and while most species of Ehinanthus (a 
genus to which our common “ yellow rattle ” belongs) are bee- 
flowers, one high alpine species (R. alpinus) has been also 
adapted for fertilisation by butterflies only. The reason of 
this is, that in the high alps butterflies are immensely more 
plentiful than bees, and flowers adapted to be fertilised by 
bees can often have their nectar extracted by butterflies 
without effecting cross-fertilisation. It is, therefore, im¬ 
portant to have a modification of structure which shall make 
butterflies the fertilisers, and this in many cases has been done. 1 
9. Economy of time is very important both to the insects 
and the flowers, because the fine working days are com¬ 
paratively few, and if no time is wasted the bees Anil get 
more honey, and in doing so will fertilise more flowers. Xoav, 
it has been ascertained by seA T eral observers that many insects, 
bees especially, keep to one kind of flower at a time, visiting 
hundreds of blossoms in succession, and passing o\*er other 
species that may be mixed Avith them. They thus acquire 
quickness in going at once to the nectar, and the change of 
colour in the flower, or incipient Avithering AA'hen fertilised, 
enables them to aA r oid those floAA r ers that have already had 
their honey exhausted. It is probably to assist the insects in 
keeping to one flower at a time, which is of vital importance 
to the perpetuation of the species, that the floAA'ers AA’hich 
bloom intermingled at the same season are usually very dis¬ 
tinct both in form and colour. In the sandy districts of 
Surrey, in the early spring, the copses are gay AAdth three 
flowers—the primrose, the wood-anemone, and the lesser 
celandine, forming a beautiful contrast, Avhile at the same 
time the purple and the Avhite dead-nettles abound on hedge 
banks. A little later, in the same copses, Ave have the blue 
Avild hyacinth (Scilla nutans), the red campion (Lychnis 
dioica), the pure Avhite great stanvort (Stellaria Holosteum), 
and the yelloAv dead-nettle (Lamium Galeobdolon), all distinct 
and Avell-contrasted floA\ r ers. In damp meadoAA r s in summer 
Ave have the ragged robin (Lychnis Floscuculi), the spotted 
orchis (0. maculata), and the yelloAv rattle (Ehinanthus 
1 “ Alpeublumen,” by D. H. Miiller. See Nature, vol. xxiii. p. 333. 
