The Making of Species 



and it is quite clear that the scent is not useful 

 in attracting insects. If, therefore, you adopt the 

 insect theory to explain the scents of flowers, you 

 must invent entirely new theories to explain the 

 scents of fruits and leaves." 



It is thus evident that the ordinarily accepted 

 explanation of the colours, scents, and markings 

 of flowers is far from satisfactory. 



Mr E. Kay Robinson has put forth in recent 

 issues of The Country-Side (March 20, 27, and 

 April 3, 1909) quite a new explanation of the 

 phenomena, and one which deserves careful con- 

 sideration. He maintains that " the real, primary, 

 and original meaning of the colours, markings, 

 nectar and scents of flowers is not to attract 

 insects, but to deter grazing and browsing 

 animals." 



" I say," he writes, " that grazing and browsing 

 animals avoid eating conspicuous flowers. I have 

 watched a flock of five hundred sheep pass across 

 a yard-wide strip of close-nibbled turf on the 

 Norfolk coast, grazing as they passed, and the 

 number of open daisy blossoms after they had 

 passed seemed the same as before they came. 

 Every one of five hundred sheep had eaten some- 

 thing from that yard of grass, and not one had 

 eaten any of the hundred and thirty odd daisies. 



" Every summer the farm horses are turned 

 into the same old pasture, and as the summer 

 wanes the field always presents the same appear- 



266 



