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to illustrate this idea by talgng for an example the common 

 yellow variety of garden Tulip.* The purest and most orig- 

 inal specimens are yellow in oxory detail : perianth, stamens, 

 stigma and also the very grains of pollen. From this lemon- 

 yellow tulip are derived a great variety of charming hues 

 and many pretty variegations. We shall not undertake 

 here to explain the chemistry of these color changes, hut 

 we will point out the role of the insects in this magical 

 transformation. 



Variegation 1. — As one of the ways colors run, and not 

 l)y any means a necessary sequence, as this very example 

 will clearly prove, we find individuals of this flower which 

 have changed to pure white except a yellow area at the 

 bottom of the chalice which still retains the original color, 

 so that we have a white flower with a yellow eye. ^^'hy 

 does this yellow eye remain, is it of the nature of a honey 

 guide? If so, it certainly does not guide, for there is never 

 a drop of nectar in the cup ; it is rather a delusion and a 

 snare ! In watching the bees, one flnds that they do not 

 alight on the petals, nor do they force an entrance before 

 the bud has widely expanded, but when it is invitingly 

 open, the bee is able to fly directly into the opening and 

 alight upon the stigma or the anthers which alone afford the 

 nectar. For this reason there are no guiding honey guides. 

 The insect does not always retain his foothold, and the 

 inner segments of the perianth being erect, and smooth as 

 glass, with a slight concave bend near the middle, if he 

 trusts to these he is sure to fall to the bottom, from which 

 it is no easy matter to escai)e. Not only bees l)ut other 

 small insects, clamber up to fall again, and are finally 

 exhausted and smothered in the pollen dust accumulated at 

 the bottom. Their struggles for life preserve to us the 

 golden eye, a reninant of the original hue ! I have found 

 in one flower a bee, bug and ant. This is a cold, hard- 

 hearted flower and dangerous to insects. 



* The illufitration is a wilted Tulip, to show markiug at centre. 



