64 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



The very men who would most readily throw over 

 the old theological argument of " design," which 

 believed that everything was done in the most 

 perfect way for the most perfect ends, will now 

 in the interests of evolution show the necessity 

 for each curve of a flower-cup and for each 

 marking on a petal. We cannot be too thankful 

 to them, if only they will make their ground sure 

 at every step ; but it will not do to generalize 

 too rapidly. For instance, it has been stated 

 that veins on a flower are probably guides 

 to lead insects down into the honey-cup below, 

 and that night-blowing flowers are without 

 them because at night they would be invisible 

 and useless. Unfortunately, it has since been 

 shown that the (Enothera taraxicifolia, and pro- 

 bably other night-flowers, are deeply marked 

 with veins. Again, why in some cherry-blossorhs 

 is the pistil longer than the stamens, so that the 

 fertilization must be effected differently to what 

 it is in the more ordinary varieties, where the 

 stamens and pistil are of equal length ? Why 

 have blossoms gradually developed properties to 



