G8 



gently licked over, making a complete circuit of the corolla. 

 The position of a nectary and at the same time of a genuine 

 honey guide so much above the bottom of the chalice is 

 very unusual indeed ; it is the only example I have ever 

 met. 



There was nothing discerned by the naked eye to attract 

 the l)ees but the color ; with a lens however the orange band 

 was seen to be minutely and obscurely punctate, and the 

 pollen falling from the extrorse anthers upon it, mingling 

 with the secretions, formed a delicate ambrosial nectar. 

 This nectar originally was the lirst thing to attract the bees, 

 then their stimulating influences evoked the color ! I have 

 had suspicions all along my researches, that insects did to 

 some extent awaken a new color ; they were aroused in the 

 Kaiser Crown tulip, where it was the only scarlet color on 

 the inside, and produced by bees, but the pigment was in 

 the "blood" of this flower, for it showed naturally on the 

 outside, but in Liriodendron there is not a particle of 

 orange color elsewhere ! 



This pigment no doubt exists in the petals undeveloped, 

 for with age the green color becomes somewhat yellow ; 

 but this elegant band of gold on a green ground would 

 never have ap})eared without the aid of insects, and in this 

 instance, therefore, I should say that it was not a vestige of 

 the past, but a new creation ! 



Example 13. — Sisy^Hnchium auguslifolium and >S'. anceps 

 are two common New England flowers, small l)ut interest- 

 ing. They are blue flowers having a yellow centre. Each 

 blue petal has a diminutive yellow spot at the base, and 

 these six together form a small star-shaped eye ; the base of 

 the style to. the exact height of the eye is also yellow, but 

 higher up is l)lue. This flower was undoubtedly in the 

 remote })ast of an entirely yellow color, perianth, stamens 

 and style. Possibly it emigrated from the tropics, where 

 its congeners arc still mostly yellow. It may have taken 

 thousands of vears to reach New England, and the chano-e 



