154 TYPES OF BRITISH PLANTS 
place with certainty.) The Fritillary’s perianth is chequered 
with mauve, pink, and purple, and bees fly to it, attracted 
by the colouring, and climb up the hanging bell for the 
honey, which is at the very top. Until the flower opens, 
however, the bud is boldly erect; but when the pollen 
would be exposed to the weather, the stem curves round, 
and the bell forms its protection. As the bee reaches 
the flower, he alights upon the top of the pistil, and 
leaves upon it, if it be ripe and sticky, some of the 
pollen from another flower. He pushes his way down 
to the honey, and, if the stamens be not ripe, nothing 
further happens; but if the stigma has been already 
fertilised, the flower employs his services in the reverse 
direction, for the anthers now dust him with their pollen 
for their friends. The fritillary also gives us an illustra- 
tion of self-fertilisation, for, though the pistil ripens 
first, if it is not fertilised by bees, it remains sticky until 
its own anthers open and makes the best it can of a bad 
job with their help. 
After this general type we may now take an exception, 
the Herb Paris. This plant seems to be rarer than 
formerly. At any rate, I have 
hunted in several places which 
it used to haunt without any 
success. Damp woods give the 
best chance of finding it, and it 
cannot well be overlooked, for it 
is like no other English plant, and 
at first sight not at all resembling 
a lily. An upright stem, crowned 
with a circle of large pointed 
leaves, spreading out flat, usually four in number, but 
sometimes five; and a spidery, greenish, purple-centred 
HERE PARIS, . 
