ON FLORAL ATTRACTIVENESS AND COLOUR 93 



us that our senses deal with one and the same 

 set of realities, and that colour, sound, and odour 

 have birth in a self-same cause. What, then, are 

 these realities ; what, then, is this cause in relation 

 with ourselves and the flowers ; and what part 

 does colour play therein ? 



Of course, I am supposing that colour is really 

 in the flowers and not in us or in the bee, as 

 was suggested a few years ago by an American 

 savant. I am unable to think that either myself 

 or a bee can determine the white form of some 

 blue Gentian, some rose-pink Ononis (Rest-Harrow), 

 or some yellow Primrose. If colour is not in the 

 flower, then neither is it in a lady's dress, nor in 

 a nation's flag, nor in a picture. What reason 

 should the world and his wife have for unanimously 

 declaring a dress to be brown and purple if, in 

 reality, it is no colour at all — if, that is to say, 

 it is black, or the highest refinement of black, 

 which is white ? How comes it that a whole 

 nation with one accord looks upon its flag as a 

 combination of red, white, and blue when, in 

 reality, it is simply a design in black and white ? 

 What are we doing by painting our hives a 

 variety of bright colours in order to lead the bees 

 safely home, if paint is no colour and bees can 



