FLOWERS—THEIR FORBIDDEN GUESTS 8g 
flowers are borne in clusters, creeping creatures like 
ants are of no service; for in the course of the journey 
“by land” from one flower to another, there is a 
strong probability of any pollen which the insect may 
be carrying being rubbed off before the next blossom 
is reached; small flying insects are likewise frequently 
useless. In many plants the visits of such pedestrians 
and small fry is very distinctly discouraged. Of 
different devices which serve this end, the most con- 
spicuous and effective include barriers to the passage 
of stem-climbers, and devices in the flower preventive 
of the visits of unwelcome guests. We may take a 
few instances from among British plants, which the 
reader may with a little diligence find and study for 
himself. Several members of the Pink family (Caryo- 
phyllacee) produce a sticky secretion which is a very 
effectual bar to the passage of small walking animals. 
In the English Catchfly (Silene anglica), Night-flower- 
ing Catchfly (S. noctiflora) and the Nottingham Catch- 
fly (S. nutans), hairs are present all over the leaves and 
stems, from the tips of which a gummy substance 
exudes, which is a fatal trap for smallinsects. Kerner, 
in his interesting book, “ Flowers and their Unbidden 
Guests,” states that on the sticky stems of the last, in 
the Tyrol, he identified the remains of sixty different 
kinds of insects—ants, ichneumons, beetles, bugs, 
flies, and so on. The Red German Campion (Lychnis 
Viscaria) has an extremely sticky ring below each 
joint of the stem and inflorescence, which is most 
fatal to any creature which attempts to climb to the 
flowers. Other instances, such as the Petunia or 
Moss Rose, will occur to the reader. Another familiar 
kind of barrier is the presence on the calyx or involucre 
