PLANTS AND ANIMALS. 143 



ance. The principal means to this end are colours 

 and perfumes, the former for diurnal and the latter 

 for nocturnal insects. Brilliant colours are of them- 

 selves sufficient to attract butterflies and bees lurid 

 and dull tints are usually accompanied by odours 

 more or less disagreeable to our senses but pleasant 

 to flies. It might be suggested that in the one case 

 the flowers are gaudy because they are open to the 

 fierce rays of the tropical sun, while the others are 

 the contrary, on account of their blooming in the 

 shade. But, with the apparent capability of choos- 

 ing between the ends of the branches, the axils 

 of the leaves, and the trunk, all attain their object, 

 whichever place they have selected. Here and 

 there in the forest we come upon a tree the flower 

 stems of which originate below the canopy of leaves, 

 and this appears so strange that we wonder why 

 such exceptions occur and what particular advantage 

 is derived from this position. Except that here 

 they are more in the way of the shade-loving 

 insects we know of no other reason, and must at 

 least accept this provisionally. The cacao is an 

 interesting example, and it can hardly be con- 

 sidered as having degenerated, but rather as 

 being most beautifully fitted to its environment. 

 It is hardly necessary to say much of the hand- 

 some flowers that bask in the sun and derive their 



