—s = fi il = ——— 
HESE beautiful flowers have been 
celebrated in poetry and romance 
from very ancient times, and they 
have still considerable vogue not 
merely with sentimental folk, but 
also with the scientific botanists 
who are not usually reckoned in 
that class. Every bit of the Violet-flower is crowded 
with interest. Itis a flower that has been most care- 
fully and completely adapted for cross-fertilisation by 
insects and to prevent self-fertilisation, yet strange 
to say, these flowers rarely produce seed in this 
country. ‘To me this has always been a puzzle. On 
all the hypotheses respecting cross-fertilisation this 
thing is a paradox. It can only be explained on the 
assumption that the insects which successfully fertilise 
it in the warmer parts of the Continent do not occur 
in Britain, though they must have been indigenous 
until quite recent times, or the flower would have 
degenerated. But there are no signs of degeneration 
about our Sweet Violet (Viola odorata), though 
7 
