MONK8HOOD. 



341 



among tlie great central chains of Europe and Asia, 

 and these Alpine races are usually highly developed in 

 adaptation to insect fertilisation, because they depend 

 more absolutely upon a few upland species than do 

 the eclectic flowers of the plains, which may be im- 

 pregnated hap-hazard by a dozen different flies, or 

 moths, or beetles. We can still dimly trace many of 

 the links which connect it with very simple and 

 primitive buttercups, if not directly, at least by the 

 analogy of other plants. For all the buttercup tribe 

 show us regular gradations in the same direction. 

 The simplest kinds are round, yellow, and many- 

 carpelled, like the buttercups. Then those species 

 which display their sepals largely have dwarfed petals, 

 like hellebore and globe-flower, or have lost them 

 altogether, like marsh-marigold, which trusts entirely 

 for colour display to its big golden calyx. The still 

 higher anemones have the sepals white, red, or blue ; 

 and the very advanced columbine has all the petals 

 spurred, and developed into nectaries, like those of 

 monkshood. But columbine still keeps to single 

 terminal flowers, so that here the five petals remain 

 regular and circularly symmetrical, though the carpels 

 are reduced to five. Fancy a number of such colum- 

 bine flowers crowded together on a spike, however, 

 and you can readily picture to yourself by rough 

 analogy the origin of monkshood. The sepals would 

 now become the most conspicuous part ; the two 

 upper petals would alone be useful in insuring fertili- 

 sation, and the lower ones would soon shrivel away 



