Flag and Crocus 315 
on the surface. The time has come for a “ redistribu- 
tion of seats,’ and as the corms he dry upon the 
ground they get scattered abroad by passing animals. 
But how are they to get buried? The distributed 
corms having reached a suitable place, send out a 
thick shoot downwards, and along this shoot the 
substance of the old corm passes, and forms a new 
corm below at an appropriate depth. 
The stately Yellow Iris (Jris pseudacorus), with its 
clear yellow flowers, is a conspicuous object by marsh 
and stream in early summer, sometimes covering 
many acres with its sword-shaped leaves and flower- 
stems. Peculiar as we found the Orchid flowers, 
those of the Flag are more puzzling at first sight, 
and not a little reminiscent of Orchid flowers. To 
all appearance there are three two-lipped flowers 
upon one foot-stalk, but a simple dissection shows 
that these are but three parts of one. All the parts 
of the flower are joined together at its base, but 
higher up they are separate, and we can distinguish 
between sepals and petals, though it is customary to 
speak of them in this case merely as_perianth- 
divisions. The broad reflexed lower lips are the three 
sepals, the overarching upper lips are really broadly- 
winged styles resembling petals — “out-Heroding 
Herod” in fact, for they are more petal-like than 
the real petals, which may be found almost erect 
between the sepals. The stamens, though attached 
by their base to the sepals, curve in such manner as 
brings their anthers close to the broad style and just 
below the transverse shelf-like scale which is the 
actual stigma. If the lower part of the flower be cut 
across, it will be evident that the style is really 
