VARIOUS MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 95 



for the higher insects are almost always blue or 

 purple. 



Columbine still retains the original five sepals 

 and five petals of its buttercup ancestor. But the 

 sepals here are blue or purple, and are displayed 

 between the petals in a most curious manner, so 

 as to help in the coloured advertisement of the 

 honey. The petals, on the other hand, are turned 

 into long spurred horns, each with a big drop of 

 honey in its furthest recess, securely placed where 

 only an insect with a very long proboscis has any 

 chance of reaching it. Within these two rows 

 come the numerous stamens; and within them 

 again a set of five carpels, each many-seeded. 

 The columbine is so secure of getting its seed set 

 by bees or butterflies that it is able to dispense 

 with the extra carpels. 



Larkspur carries the same devices one step 

 further. Here, there are five sepals, coloured blue, 

 and prolonged into a spur at the base, which cov- 

 ers the nectaries. Why this outer covering ? Well, 

 in columbine, thievish insects like wasps often eat 

 through the base of the spurred sepals and steal 

 the honey, without benefiting the plant in any way, 

 as they don't come near the stamens and carpels. 

 Larkspur provides against that evil chance by 

 covering its honey with two protective coats ; for 

 within the spur of the sepals lies a spurred nectary 

 made up of the petals. The petals themselves are 

 reduced to two, because the sepals are coloured, 

 and do all the attractive duty; and besides, even 

 these two petals are combined into one, as a fur- 

 ther economy. But the arrangement of the flower 

 is so admirable for ensuring fertilisation that the 

 plant is able still further to dispense with unneces- 

 sary parts; so many larkspurs have only a single 



