Buttercups and Columbines 69 
flowers are especially attractive to small beetles, 
which fly low and range over the foliage, and it is 
probably of service to the flower that these should be 
able clearly to discern it from below. Therefore, a 
plant that accidentally developed the yellow colour 
in its sepals would get an advantage owing to its 
greater distinctness from below, and some existing 
species — Goldielocks, for example — exhibit this 
tendency to yellow sepals. On the other hand, 
Celandine, which grows low, wishes to be seen from 
above; so the under side of its petals is almost 
entirely green, developing into purple, and throwing 
up the gold of its upper surface with greater strength. 
This darker colour has also the advantage of prevent- 
ing the heat-rays from passing through the sepals 
and away,—an important matter to plants that flower 
so early in the year. 
In other flowers we have seen that the sepals have 
become entirely coloured and enlarged, so that they 
are exactly like petals, and are so regarded by most 
persons. With this promotion of the sepals, the 
petals lose their importance, and they have been 
reduced in size, converted into nectaries, or dispensed 
with altogether, as in the case of the Marsh Marigold 
and the Anemone. When the Anemone-bud first 
appears, it is sheltered by the leafy bracts (involucre) ; 
but when the bud expands, the upper part of the 
slender flower-stalk lengthens so that the flower is 
carried high above the involucre, and bends to the 
breeze. Although the flower has no honey, it is 
delicately scented, and no doubt when this per- 
fume is borne upon the breeze, and insects are 
coming up in response, it is an advantage that 
