COMPOSITE 



89 



late, spiny, very stiff, and, as before mentioned, 

 hooked in the cultivated plant. The outer invo- 

 lucre is 8-furrowed. The corolla is lilac, and the 

 flower-heads are very large, at first oval and after- 

 wards more rounded. 



In the Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis), the 

 stem is without bristles, and the receptacle is not 

 spiny, but hairy. It sometimes grows to the height 

 of 3 feet, but is usually smaller. The corolla is 

 quadrifid, blue or lilac, and the outer calyx is not 

 furrowed. The leaves are more or less lobate or 

 pinnate, and hairy. It grows in woods and fields. 



The Devil's-bit Scabious (Scabiosa succisa) is 

 generally a smaller plant, common in fields and 

 waste places. The root-leaves are entire and 

 pointed, and the leaves on the stem are pinnate. 

 The flowers are bright blue, with long stalks. The 

 peculiar shape of the lower part of the stem in 

 this species has given it the odd name by which 

 it is known. It looks as if the end had been 

 bitten off. 



A considerable number of insects feed on Sca- 

 bious, among others the caterpillar of the Narrow- 



bordered Bee Hawk-moth (Hemaris bombyliformis), 

 which feeds on Field Scabious. It is green, with 

 a nearly straight horn, and reddish brown spots on 

 the sides. The moth, which much resembles the 

 Humming-bird Hawk-moth in size and habits, has 

 transparent wings bordered with brown ; the body 

 is green, and the abdomen is belted with black 

 and yellow and tufted with black and yellow. It 

 flies by day. The flower-heads of the Scabious are 

 very attractive to many insects, such as Fritillaries, 

 Blues and Coppers among butterflies, and to 

 numerous moths, especially the blue-black crimson- 

 spotted Burnet Moths (Anthrocera). 



Order XLV. Composite (48 genera) 



This is an extensive Order of plants, which is 

 easily recognised by the separate flowers or florets, 

 which are generally small, being massed together 

 into a flower-head, surrounded by an outer invo- 

 lucre of green bracts. The flowers are inserted 

 on a common base or receptacle, and the corollas 

 are either all tubular, or all ligulate ; or both. 



