Peas and Clover 143 
are concerned. They are fertilised by hive and 
humble bees, though some of these are not able to 
get at the honey by fair means, and are driven to the 
expedient of biting a hole through the side, where 
they can get at it illicitly. There are some note- 
worthy variations in the matter of leaflets, some 
species having a great number, whilst in others they 
are reduced to tendrils or absent 
altogether. The Yellow Vetchling 
(Lathyrus aphaca), for instance, 
bears leaves only as a seedling, 
and these are divided into two 
oblong leaflets. Rarely, indeed, 
they may appear on an older plant, 
and then the leaflets are longer 
and narrower. But their absence 
is made up by the very great de- 
velopment of the stipules. The 
flowers are solitary. 
The case of the Grass Vetch 
(LZ. nissolia) is worse; it has 
neither leaves, leaflets, nor tendrils. 
It is true it possesses leaf-stalks, 
and it has to make the most of 
these by flattening them out until 
they somewhat resemble the blades f gee el 
of grass, and use them as leaves. | 
The stems of the plant are very slender, and the 
crimson flowers solitary. No doubt when the species 
took to living amid grass by the sides of fields and 
similar situations it found that oval leaflets made 
it too conspicuous, so that it was eaten in pre- 
ference to the grass, and also that they were not so 
ite) 
