88 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



bright-hued petals ? I think in this way. Most 

 early types of flowers have a great many stamens 

 apiece, and these stamens are so extremely nu- 

 merous that one or two of them might readily be 

 spared for any other purpose the plant found use- 

 ful. Gradually, as botanists imagine, an outer 

 row of these stamens got flattened out into a form 

 like foliage leaves, only without any ribs or veins 

 to speak of, and developed bright colours to at- 

 tract the insects. Such a flattened and gaily- 

 decked stamen, with no pollen-bearing bag, is 

 what w r e call a petal. It is usually expanded, 

 thin, and spongy, and it is admirably adapted for 

 the display of bright colours. 



We have still certain flow r ers among us which 

 show us pretty clearly how this change took place. 

 The common white water-lily is one of them. In 

 the centre of the blossom, in that beautiful plant, 

 we find a large pistil and numerous stamens ot 

 the ordinary sort, with round stalks or filaments, 

 and yellow pollen-bags hanging out at their ends. 

 Then, as we move forward, we find the filaments 

 or stalks growing flatter and broader, and the 

 pollen-bags gradually less and less perfect. Next 

 we come to a few very flat and broad stamens, 

 looking just like petals, but with two empty poU 

 len-bags, or sometimes only one, stuck awk- 

 wardly on their edges. Last of all we arrive at 

 true petals without a trace in any way of pollen- 

 bags. I believe the water-lily preserves for us 

 still some memory of the plan by which petals 

 were first invented. Such relics of old conditions 

 are common both in plants and animals; they 

 help us greatly to reconstruct the history of the 

 path by which the various kinds have reached 

 their present perfection. 



