30 Fiowers and their Pedigrees. 



edge, though their lower portion has grown together 

 into a regular tube ; but in the harebell or the Can- 

 terbury bell we see ^that the whole blossom has be- 

 come bell-shaped, and that the five originally separate 

 petals are only indicated by five slightly projecting 

 points or lobes which give the tubular corolla its van- 

 dyked margin. And if you look at the little central 

 florets of the daisy or the sunflower, you will obser\-e 

 that they too exactly resemble the Canterburj' bell in 

 this particular. Hence we can see that their ances- 

 tors, after passing through stages more or less analo- 

 gous to those of the pinks and the primroses, at last 

 reached a completely united and tubular or campanu- 

 late form, like that of the heath or the Canterbury 

 bell. 



There is one minor point, however, in the develop- 

 ment of the daisy which I only notice because I am 

 so afraid of that terrible person, the microscopic critic. 

 This very learned and tedious being goes about the 

 world proclaiming to everybody that you don't know 

 something because you don't happen to mention it ; 

 and for fear of him one is often obliged to trouble 

 one's readers with petty matters of detail which really 

 make no difference at all except to such Smelfun- 

 guses in person. Being themselves accustomed to 

 weary us with the whole flood of their own unspeak- 



