50 IMPORTANCE OF INSECTS TO FLOWERS. [CH. 



are generally pale ; for instance, Lychnis vespertina 

 is white, while Lychnis diurna, which flowers by day, 

 is red. Brown flowers, such as Scrophularia, some 

 species of Epipactis, of Lonicera, &c., perhaps owe 

 their hue to the selective influence of wasps. Fly 

 flowers also are often livid or flesh-coloured. 



I have been good-humouredly accused of attacking 

 the Bee, because I have ventured to suggest that she 





FIG. 50. Lychnis vespertina.. 



does not possess all the high qualities which have 

 been popularly and poetically ascribed to her. But if 

 scientific observations do not altogether support the 

 moral and intellectual eminence which has been 

 ascribed to Bees, they have made known to us in the 

 economy of the hive many curious peculiarities which 

 no poet had dreamt of, and have shown that bees 

 and other insects have an importance as regards 

 flowers which had been previously unsuspected. To 



