' ' DEFENCE, NO T DEFT A NCE. " 141 



even if they could travel faster and be more useful. 

 Moreover, if ants get at the supply of honey they 

 devour it, so that none is left for the flying insects 

 for whom it was specially secreted. Hence flowers 

 robbed by ants would stand a poor chance of being 

 effectually cross-fertilised. 



In other words, flowers have to deal with, and 

 their structures are related to, not only the visits 

 of " welcome guests," but to those of " unwelcome 

 visitors " as well. Ants are among the most per- 

 sistent of the latter class. 



But these ants are late risers ; they cannot stir 

 abroad early because the dew is on the ground, and 

 the leaves and stems, maybe, are dripping with it. 

 Consequently the flowers of such plants as the 

 Goat's-beard {Tragopogoii) take advantage of the fact 

 (being instinctively as well acquainted with this 

 part of Formican Natural History as its modern 

 chronicler. Sir John Lubbock), and so they open 

 early and close at noon -day. The Nipplewort 

 {Lapsana cojmntcnis) and Crepis pttlcJira^ abundant on 

 all hedge-banks, where ants are usually numerous, 

 open only from half-past five to nine or half-past — 

 about four hours — in the morning ; perhaps because 

 they grow in drier spots. 



But the most widely-adopted protective contriv- 

 ance employed by plants to protect their flowers is 

 the secretion of some sticky substance on the stems 

 and calices of flowers, which acts as a kind of 



