INGENUITY IN VARIATION 127 



So obnoxious and so penetrating is the odor 

 of this flower that each year it has been found 

 necessary to cut off and destroy the blooms as 

 soon as they appear. 



And so truly has it achieved its ideal that even 

 the buzzards, carrion birds that they are, at- 

 tracted by its color, its texture, and its smell, 

 have descended in ever-narrowing circles only to 

 fly away in disgust when they found they had 

 been lured by a flower. 



Where the dianthus finds it satisfactory 

 merely to block the entrance to its honey store 

 with an array of pollen bundles which must be 

 pushed aside by the entering insect, the carrion 

 lily makes doubly sure of pollination by means 

 of a still more ingenious device. 



The fly, attracted by the color of the spathe 

 and guided by the hidden odor at the base of the 

 flower, lights on the sturdy spadix and uses it 

 as a ladder for descent. The opening around the 

 spadix is just large enough to afford a comfort- 

 able passageway; but once within the well, the 

 spathe closes in and snugly hugs the spadix, so 

 that the fly, buzzing about in the chamber 

 below, becomes thoroughly covered with the 

 pollen dust. 



This done, the flower slowly unfolds and per- 

 mits the pollen-laden insect to escape. 



