n] IMPORTANCE OF INSECTS TO FLOWERS. 51 



them we owe the beauty of our gardens, the sweet- 

 ness of our fields. To them flowers are indebted for 

 their scent and colour ; nay, for their very existence 

 in its present form. Not only have the present shape 

 and outlines, the brilliant colours, the sweet scent 

 and the honey of flowers, been gradually developed 

 through the unconscious selection exercised by insects ; 

 but the very arrangement of the colours, the circular 

 bands and radiating lines, the form, size, and position 

 of the petals, the relative situations of the stamens 

 and pistil, are all arranged with reference to the 

 visits of insects, and in such a manner as to ensure 

 the grand object which these visits are destined to 

 effect. 



