VEGETABLE MIMICRY 97 



the flowers are inside what becomes the rind of the 

 fruit ; but often they show a profoundly intellectual 

 strategy. The Bee and Fly Orchids, for example, 

 which, but for the ravages of greedy collectors 

 (Lord ! what a mischievous race they are !), would be 

 much more commonly seen on English downs than 

 they are, transact their own fertilisation, and don't 

 want to be bothered by busy bees and inquisitive 

 flies ; so, look you, what a cunning plan has been 

 resorted to in order to secure their privacy. No 

 bee will enter a flower in which another bee is 

 already at work ; so, to protect the entrance, the lip 

 of the flower has been enlarged into a process 

 exactly resembling the business end of a bee (in the 

 Fly Orchis it resembles the hind-quarters of a fly). 

 To the Spider Orchis (Ophrys amnifera), another 

 British species, it seems to have occurred how a still 

 more violent shock might be administered to the 

 nerves of troublesome insect callers, so it displays at 

 its front door the likeness of a large spider. 



Some of us are vain enough to imagine that the 

 fragrance of flowers was invented for the special 

 gratification of the senses of man, though the true 

 object seems to be the attraction of insect visitors. 

 The perfume is generally agreeable, but by no means 

 Q 



