40 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



went away without paying their toll. Something 

 had to be done to restrict the Bacchanalian revelry 

 and compel the insects to do the sei'vice expected 

 of them : namely, to fetch and carry pollen among 

 the flowers. 



A slight change in the relative lengths and posi- 

 tions of the stamens and pistils would certainly 

 help matters, and accordingly many flowers adopt, 

 and survive by, such improvements. One such aid 

 is to be found in the flower which turns its anthers 

 away from the stigma, and sheds its pollen out- 

 ward. Another will be seen in the flower whose 

 style is very long, bearing its stigma far in ad- 

 vance of the anthers, thus coming out of doors, as 

 it were, to welcome the guest before he has reached 

 the threshold. 



Marsh Marigold — Caltha palustris 

 April-May 



This little plant, which enlivens with its colour 

 the borders of our ponds and 

 streams in early spring, bears wide- 

 open flowers with plenty of nectar, 

 and numerous pistils and stamens 

 ripening simidtaneously. They at- 

 tract the beautiful yellow flies of 



MARSH MARi- tlic Si/rpkidce family, who do much 



GOLD ^ -^ •" 



