25 



case of doul>lc flowers into perfected petals, hut remain half 

 transformed and diminutive. 



They represent at least a transition state, and being the 

 nearest approach to true i)etals, ought to l)e of a golden 

 yellow if it be true that all petals were originally of that 

 color, but in reality they are generally white, also the sta- 

 mens from which they develop are white I 



We have discussed the Bammcukicea' at some length, for 

 the reason that great stress was laid on the yellow buttercup 

 by the author of "The Progressive Color Theory," as show- 

 ing an example of a simple flower having "the golden yellow" 

 color said to be peculiar to "almost all of the earliest and 

 simi)lest tyi)es of cxish'n;/ flowei-s," which are seldom white 

 and never blue. ' I 



CHAPTER IV. 



It might be interesting to notice a few more statements 

 of Grant Allen, who endeavors to show why the buttercup 

 is 3'ellow, the stitchwort white, etc., viz. : 



1. "All flowers it would seem were in their earliest form 

 yellow ; then some of them l)ecome white ; after that a few 

 of them grew to l)e red or purple : and finally a com}>ara- 

 tively small number acf(uired shades of lihic, mauve, violet 

 or blue, and when through any special cause they i)egin to 

 retrograde, the}' pass backward through the same stages in 

 inverse order." "Almost all the members of the most ad- 

 vanced families are purple or blue." 



2. "The Violacece are a whole family of bilateral flowers 

 highly adapted to fertilization by insects ; and as a rule they 

 are deep blue in color. This is the case with four of our 

 British species." 



