- I'l.owi.Rs oi-' ini'. Mi:i.i)s and mi-.adows 



these art- llic two uiiiL^s or aUe. The ollur two lower petals ;ire 

 united along the anterior marj^in to form a carina or keel. 



The nine stamens are united at the base to form a tube encirclini^- 

 the |)istil, A\u\ project beyond il into a triangular ca\'it)' at the bottom 

 of the keel which is a rt'posilory tor pollen. i'he tenth is free. The 

 ala- are locked by projecliiiL;' knobs littiiiL; nilo a hollow opposite (as 

 in the mantle of a Se[)ia or Cuttle-fish). An insect alii^htini;- on the 

 llowcr bears down the al;e and the keel, which is pushed over the 

 column or rini; of stamens and lorces the [lollen up iiUo the ea\it\ 

 antl ai^'.iinst the alulonien ol the insect, and wIkmi the insect L;oes oil 

 to another (lower the parts rettu'n ai^ain to their tormer position antl 

 cover up the pollen. The bee is able to reach the honey when the 

 tenth stamen is free. In other species of Legumino.ste where the tenth 

 stanicm is united there is usually no honey. 



I'ollen is discharged when the anthers burst before the flowers are 

 openeil. Of the two groups of five stamens one has thickened ends, 

 and after the five inner anthers have shrivelled they fill the hollow in 

 the keel in which the pollen is collected. The wings and keel are 

 both depressed when a bee alights, and being locked together they 

 spring back as by a "piston mechanism" after pressure is removed. 



The visitors are Hymenoptera (Apidce), IJiptera, Sphinges, Scs/ci. 

 Zyo^wiia, Jyoii/bvccs, Porthesia, jYoc/iur, Eiiclidia, &c. 



The pod is a many-seeded fruit, and is divitled into divisions which 

 alternate with the seeds, and as the chambers break off when the pod 

 is ripe, the seeds travel to a short distance, and the Bird's Foot Trefoil 

 is therefore extended in range by its own agency. 



This plant is best suited by a sand soil in which there is a lair 

 proportion of clay, or sandy loam, and is therefore both a sand-lover 

 and a clay-lover. It is abundant on Friassic and I.iassic clays as 

 well as on later Oolitic rock soils. 



The fungi Pcronospora trifolionnit antl Uroiuyces striaiiis attack 

 Lotus. The beetles Apion loti, Jhin/nis /oti, Me/ioet/ics so/idiis, a 

 hymenopterous insect Mcxacki/e art^cutata, and the Lepidoptera, 

 Dusky Skipper, Wood White, Common Pdue, Clifden Blue, Common 

 Heath, Gclcchia tiiiiiidclla, (i. ticiiiolclla, Xcpiiciila cryptcUa, Sih-er 

 Cloud {Xyloinygcs coitspicillaris), &c., Transparent Burnet {Zygccua 

 viiiios). Broad-bordered Five-spotted Burnet {Z. trifolii). Narrow- 

 bordered I*"ive-spotted Burnet (Z. loiiiccirc), Lithosia palhatc/la, 

 Colaphora discordclla. Bordered Gray {Sclidoscuia p/iiiinrna), and 

 My/lophila scnii-rubclla, and the fly Diplosis loti feed on it. 



Lotus, a name given by Theophrastus, is the Latin for this common 



