1 66 On Plants and Insects. 



petals, on the contrary, begin to roll themselves 

 up, so that by daylight they close the aperture of 

 the flower, and present only their brownish-green 

 undersides to view ; which, moreover, are thrown 

 into numerous wrinkles. Thus, by the morning's 

 light, the flower has all the appearance of being 

 faded. It has no smell, and the honey is covered 

 over by the petals. So it remains all day. Towards 

 evening, however, everything is changed. The 

 petals unfold themselves ; by eight o'clock the 

 flower is as fragrant as before, the second set of 



Fig. 60. NOTTINGHAM CATCHFLY (Silene mitans), 



stamens have rapidly grown, their anthers are 

 open, and the pollen again exposed. By morning 

 the flower is again " asleep," the anthers are 

 shrivelled, the scent has ceased, and the petals 

 rolled up as before. The third evening, again the 

 same process occurs, but this time it is the pistil 

 which grows ; the long spiral stigmas on the third 

 evening take the position which on the previous 

 two had been occupied by the anthers, and can 

 hardly fail to be dusted by moths with pollen 

 brought from another flower. 



