THE COMMON ARUM 



purple. It was on May 19th, though, that it 

 reached its perfection (Fig. 2"], Plate 18). 



What did all this mean ? What was the pur- 

 pose of this most quaint floral structure ? No 

 butterflies or moths were ever seen to visit this 

 extraordinary-looking blossom ; the whole plant 

 had a weird and uncanny look. Its glossy dark 

 green sagittate leaves contrasted strongly with 

 the pale - coloured hood of the bloom, tinted 

 within with a purple hue, against which stood out 

 conspicuously the purple club ; the whole plant, 

 too, is very poisonous, and the odour from it, 

 although not powerful, is certainly not inviting. 

 Still there are living things that know full well 

 how to appreciate that mysterious blossom, for 

 within the lower part of our bloom was a merry 

 throng of tiny midge-flies, such as I have previ- 

 ously referred to, in the midst of a revel they 

 dearly loved. 



The particular little midge that patronises the 

 arum in England, has no common name, but, to 

 distinguish it from other species of midge-flies, I 

 will (at the risk of being accused of making a big 

 fuss about a very small thing) give its entomolog- 

 ical name, which is Fsychoda phalcBuoides. Prob- 

 ably you will not appreciate the insect any the 

 more for this information, but, nevertheless, when 

 you find it you now have its name ready for it. 

 The little insect is a near relative of the common 

 gnat, and is familiar everywhere during the sum- 

 mer months. A magnified photograph of it is 

 shown in Fig. 2Z (Plate 19). With wings closed 



35 



