DECEMBER 261 



of nectar, which is often advertised by seductive odours 

 and attractive colours. This seems an ideal arrange- 

 ment; the flower gets its business transacted at a 

 reasonable cost ; the insect flies off" well satisfied by 

 payment in kind for its services. 



Other plants there are which stoop to gross de- 

 ception in order to gain the same end. I have 

 drawn attention elsewhere 1 to the behaviour of that 

 strange vegetable the hairy arum {Arum, crinitum), 

 which I suspect not only of devouring insects for its 

 own nutriment, but of employing their larvae to 

 fertilise its own florets. I have not ascertained that 

 this is so, though I hope to work the question to a 

 conclusion next summer, and it is one in which the 

 co-operation of other observers would be most welcome. 



The hairy arum is a native of the Mediterranean 

 region. Tubers can be had at a moderate price from 

 any bulb merchant at the present time ; and if planted 

 in lightish soil in a sheltered spot fully exposed to the 

 sun, will flower during next summer, though it will be apt 

 to succumb in the succeeding winter in mild districts. 

 Its blossom, when it does appear, is simply appalling in 

 aspect the most hideous inflorescence known to me. 

 Like that of other aroids, it consists of a sheath or 

 ' spathe,' within which is the ' spadix/ or flower spike ; 

 but these, instead of growing erect, as in the lords-and- 

 ladies of our hedgerows (Arum maculatum), hang 

 pendulous ; the spathe, eight to ten inches long, droops 

 and gapes like a huge wound, lurid purplish in colour, 

 with scattered coarse black hairs. Protruding from the 



1 See p. 155 supra. 



