FUTlIltE JioTANIST. 11 



to di'iiw till- following- coiiulusiuii. TIil' Uowcr is seldom tliu sliiipo 

 oi" an insect's bead and proboscis at rest, but it almost exactly 

 includes the space occupied by its various visitois in their motions 

 when visiting- and sucking honey ; in other words, if we imagine 

 a bee and the other insect visitors going* through the same motions 

 in a yielding substance like jelly, the space excavated by all the 

 \isitors would be an exact model of the flower. Ux-anted the 

 growth and the principle of economy, with such modifications as 

 are due to the strains and mechanical support, the ilower moulds 

 itself, or may do so, to the average visitor. 



This gives a liint of the manner in which the shape has been 

 produced (r/!, a foxglove and a bumble-bee, for instance, which lit 

 like an old ghjve to its usual finger). But this is nearly all we 

 know of how flowers may have been formed. Colour, it is true, 

 seems a result of strong illumination. We do know that Alpine 

 llowers exposed to strong sun are much richer and deeper in colour 

 than the same species when cultivated at lower levels. But far 

 more observation is rei|uired to shew e\'en this properly. It is 

 particularly important to know whether such flowers as the rose, 

 bramble, anemone, &c., are more often pink when growing in 

 sunny localities ; and this is one question for the future British 

 b<.)tanist. Another point for his attention is the size and number 

 of flowers. I can, without hesitation, say that in exposed situa- 

 tions the number of flowers is usually greater than in sheltered 

 places, and their size is, I think, usually diminished, but this point 

 ought to Ije investigated with proper measurements. Another 

 effect of strong exposure is to shorten the pedicels, which are more 

 or less directly suppressed by the transpiration in exposed places. 

 The result is to aggregate the flowers into a head or close corymb. 

 In the colour, size, number, and the aggregation of flowers into 

 heads or corymbs, therefore, the effect of exposure may be directly 

 traced, and in the future these points will, no doubt, be proved. 



If we turn to the vegetative system, the first point to notice 

 is the shape of leaves. Of course leaves exist in order that the 

 plant may obtain as much light and carbonic acid as is jjossible 

 without hurting the tissue. It follows that there are two points 

 to observe. The first is the manner in which the shapes of leaves 

 and their positions on the branch are so arranged that they take 

 uj) as nuich as ]Dossible of the light wliicli falls on them. In the 

 summer I could have shewn vou anv number (jf examples, but at 



