152 LAMIUM. [CHAP. 



which prevent small insects from creeping down the 

 tube and so getting at the honey. Lamium, in fact, 

 like so many of our other wild flowers, is especially 

 adapted for humble bees. They alight on the lower 

 lip, which projects at the side, so as to afford them 

 a leverage, by means of which they may press the 

 proboscis down the tube to the honey ; while, on the 

 other hand, the arched upper lip, in its size, form, and 



FIG. 109. Lamium album. 



position, is admirably adapted not only as a protec- 

 tion against rain, but also to prevent the anthens (Fig. 

 , a) and pistil (Fig. in, st] from yielding too easily 

 to the pressure of the insect, and thus to ensure that 

 it should press the pollen which it has brought from 

 other flowers against the pistil. 



The stamens do not form a ring round the pistil, 

 as is so usual. On the contrary, one stamen is 



