THE KINSHIP OF PLANTS TO 

 ANIMALS— II 



By WALTER P. WRIGHT 

 Illustrated with Photographs by E. J. WALLIS 



IX a former article I referred to some 

 remarkable examples of the associa- 

 tion between plants and insects. 

 Cross fertilisation is not facilitated by 

 form of flower alone. Some flowers have 

 earned an unenviable reputation on 

 account of their evil odour. The common 

 " Lords and Ladies " of the hedgerows 

 (Arum macnlaium) is one, but for the 

 credit of the country it is satisfactory 

 to be able to say that its smell is ambrosial 

 compared with that of certain exotic 

 members of the same family, notably 

 the genus Amorphophallus. Perhaps the 

 harassed reader will declare that the odour 

 of this plant cannot be worse than its 

 name. Possibly the effluvium dis- 

 seminated by the flower attracts carrion 

 flies and other insects that love odours 

 generally associated with putrefaction, 

 and which assist pollination. Certainly 

 Nature does employ scents to attract 

 insects, and, fortunately for us, she makes 

 an appeal to those which like pleasant 

 perfumes as well as to those which enjoy 

 smells disagreeable to human noses. She 

 caters for night insects too ; note the 

 scented white tobacco flower, and the 

 stock. Some flowers play scurvy tricks 

 on the insects which visit them in search 

 of nectar, brewing so strong a liquid that 

 it causes intoxication. Alas ! observers 

 have noted that, when an insect has 

 recovered, it has hastened eagerly back 

 for more, like a confirmed tippler. Lime 

 flowers have been known to cause intoxi- 

 cation in innocent humble-bees, and the 

 flowers of ivy and opium poppy have had 

 a too potent effect on flies and other 

 insects. 



What are known as insectivorous plants 

 have long been objects of interest. One 



of the most remarkable of these is cer- 

 tainly the " Pitcher plant " [Nepenthes), 

 a large variety of which is shown in 

 an earlier photograph. The leaf of this 

 plant has an extraordinary appendage, 

 taking the form of an urn, which is sus- 



ECHli 1 -ERIA ME TA LLICA MO\S TEOSA . 



846 



