312 PLANT-LIFE 



attractions for insects. The gaily coloured flower is 

 easily seen by creatures that are as keenly sensible of 

 colour as human beings, and as readily attracted by it. 

 The larger and more conspicuous the flower the more 

 certain is it of securing attention. Small flowers requir- 

 ing the ministry of insects are usually massed in 

 conspicuous inflorescences, such as spikes, heads, or 

 umbels. The umbelliferous plants, of which we may 

 take the Hemlock (Plate LVIII.) or the Cow-Parsnip 

 (Plate XXXIII.) as types, produce an inflorescence 

 which is a conspicuous aggregation of quite small 

 flowers. 



Scent is a considerable allurement. A number of 

 insects, among them bees, are attracted by perfumes 

 .that are delightful to the olfactory sense of man, while 

 there are some insects that are peculiarly charmed by 

 odours to which human beings object. Flowers that 

 are adapted for pollination by night-flying insects, 

 notably moths, have a strong scent, and are usually 

 large and of a white, or bright yellow, colour, so as to 

 be as conspicuous as possible in the gloom. Many of 

 them do not open and display their attractions until 

 evening. The Evening Campion (Lychnis vespertina) 

 is white, and has an agreeable perfume ; it opens about 

 6 p.m., and does not close until about 9 a.m. Its rela- 

 tive, the Red Campion (L. dioica) keeps the shop open, 

 so to speak, during the day, and closes at night. Unlike 

 L. vespertina, which attracts moths, it benefits by the 

 services of bees. Honeysuckle (Lonicera Periclymenum) 

 and the Butterfly Orchis (Habenaria bifolia) are pol- 

 linated by moths, and in this connection we note the 

 pale colour of the flowers, and that their scent is more 



