64 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



return. Such distinctly human 

 traits should endear the flowers 

 to us more than ever. 



YELLOW POND-LILY Nymphcea 



advena 

 May -A ugust 



The yellow pond-lily has a 

 somewhat similar mode of ac- 

 complishing the same end. As 

 in the figwort, the stamens are 

 immature, curved downward 

 and out of the way when the 

 flower opens its petals slowly, 

 giving at first but a small tri- 

 angular opening through which 

 insects must pass directly to the 

 broad, flat disc of the stigma. Later, the petals 

 fully expand and the anthers straighten up 

 and shed their pollen all around the heart of the 

 flower. 



This pond-lily possesses no fragrance, but it 

 attracts the Halictus bees (according to Professor 

 Robertson) and beetles named Donacia piscatrix, 

 or the more common Donacia subfiles, a beetle about 

 three-eighths of an inch long, of a dark green- 

 bronze colour. 



POND-LILY 



