76 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
in the monk’s hood. The whole flower bears con- 
siderable resemblance to the closed heimet of the 
knights of old. The entrance is partially 
blocked by the depressed stamens, which offer 
a clinging-place to the Garden Humble-bee 
(Bombus hortorwm), by which alone the flower 
appears to be visited. The anthers rise suc- 
cessively, shed their pollen where the under 
mere, side of the bee will pick it up, then curl back 
out of the way. The stigmas then elongate 
and come in the way of the bee’s abdomen. 
These three higher types of the Ranunculus family 
have lost the power of fertilising themselves, and as 
they have laid themselves out so 
entirely for the patronage of the = he, 
larger bees, they run great risks of Fa ee 
becoming extinct. Their carpels de- % 
velop into open follicles containing _ Anthers of Monkshood 
many seeds, but they are yet not ee 
common flowers in this country,— 
certainly not nearly so plentiful as the simpler flowers 
that fertilise themselves, or as those which, while 
laying themselves out for insect-fertilisation, reserve 
the right, so to speak, to fertilise themselves if the 
appropriate insects do not call in 
time. 
No doubt in some seasons ad- 
verse circumstances keep down 
the number of humble-bees, and 
Y he : 
Anthers all curled back out of . 4: 
way of ripe stigmas many of these specialised plants 
fail to set any seeds at all. Such 
an accident would, of course, seriously affect the 
numbers of such plants, so that we must not make 
