THE PLANT AND ITS HELPERS 73 



the impression of drippings from a large piece of 

 meat. As well, the flowers of the Aristolochia 

 emit a horrible odour, which is so nauseating that 

 a person cannot stay long in the vicinity of a 

 blossom. That this simulation is not in vain, 

 may be gathered from an examination of the 

 interior of the bloom, which is crowded with flies 

 in search of the imagined dainties. 



Having attracted the insect to the flower, it 

 is necessary to make sure that it does not go 

 away without its burden of pollen. In almost 

 every case uf a flower fertilised by insect agency, 

 the pollen grains are either sticky or else covered 

 with excrescences which cause them to adhere 

 readily to any object. As a curious contrast, the 

 pollen produced by wind-fertilised plants is almost 

 always smooth and free from any projections. 

 With a large number of flowers, especially in the 

 case of the Compositae, the insect visitor in his 

 wanderings brushes up against the anthers of the 

 stamens, and in this way becomes dusted with 

 the pollen, which is likely to be carried to the 

 next bloom visited. The Peacock Butterfly, which 

 sips nectar from the clustered bloom of the 

 Scabious, cannot fail to get a certain amount of 

 pollen over his legs and body. In like manner 

 the bee which blunders into the Crocus blossoms 



