WILD HYACINTHS. 29 



that the six apparent petals are really distinct, though 

 they converge so as practically to form a bell-flower, 

 with a tiny drop of honey glistening at its base. In the 

 true hyacinths of our gardens the six pieces have ac- 

 tually coalesced into a solid and well-soldered tube, 

 which marks a still higher level of adaptation to insect 

 visits ; and even our own wild species shows a slight ten- 

 dency in the same direction, for its pieces are often very 

 shortly united together at the bottom. It is from such 

 small beginnings as this that selective agency slowly pro- 

 duces the greatest changes ; and perhaps after the lapse 

 of many ages our own wild hyacinths may become really 

 tubular too, under the modifying influence of insect 

 selection. But at present the frequent recurrence of 

 white varieties a probable reversion to some earlier type 

 proves that our native plant is still far from having 

 completely adapted itself even to its present level of in- 

 sect fertilization. Thoroughly well-established and an- 

 cient species do not throw back so easily or so often to 

 less-advanced ancestral forms. 



