98 APRIL 



always. Certain plants which covet the presence of 

 carrion-loving flies emit odours most revolting to 

 human nostrils. The giant Rafflesia, with flowers 

 fully a yard in diameter, stinks like putrescent 

 meat, thereby attracting swarms of flies. The 

 Eafflesia is a tropical plant; but some forms of 

 Arum, notably Arum dracunculus and crinitum, 

 which practise a similar form of deception, may be 

 grown in English gardens. The last-named is pro- 

 bably the most hideous flower in existence, for 

 which reason, perhaps, it is seldom seen in this 

 country. It resembles a gaping wound, lurid with 

 gangrene, nearly a foot long. The fraud is thor- 

 oughly effective ; I have seen the flowers of Arum 

 crinitum in my garden just as completely fly-blown 

 as if they really had been decaying flesh. The 

 wriggling of the maggots round the inflorescence 

 (which, as in other Aroids, rises like a column 

 within the spathe) ensured communication between 

 the male florets on the upper part of the spike and 

 the female florets lower down. 



An example, still more familiar to everybody in 

 this country, of deceptive odours emitted to attract 

 flies, is that of the Stinkhorn Fungus (Phallus 

 impudicus), a common object in our woods in autumn. 



