AMONG THE HEATHER. in 



all the flowers which beetles frequent are 

 consequently brightly decked in scarlet or 

 yellow. On the other hand, the whole family 

 of the umbellates, those tall plants with level 

 bunches of tiny blossoms, like the fool's 

 parsley, have all but universally white petals ; 

 and Mliller, the most statistical of naturalists, 

 took the trouble to count the number of in- 

 sects which paid them a visit. He found 

 that only 14 per cent, were bees, while the 

 remainder consisted mainly of miscellaneous 

 small flies and other arthropodous riff-raff; 

 whereas in the brilliant class of composites, 

 including the asters, sunflowers, daisies, dan- 

 delions, and thistles, nearly 75 per cent, of 

 the visitors were steady, industrious bees. 

 Certain dingy blossoms which lay themselves 

 out to attract wasps are obviously adapted, 

 as Miiller quaintly remarks, ' to a less aesthe- 

 tically cultivated circle of visitors.' But 

 the most brilliant among all insect-fertilised 

 flowers are those which specially affect the 

 society of butterflies ; and they are only sur- 



