CHAPTER III. 



VARIEGATION. 



So far we have spoken for the most part only of 

 what ladies would call self-colour, as though every 

 flower were of one unvaried hue throughout. We 

 must now add a few considerations on the subject of 

 the spots and lines which so often variegate the 

 petals in certain species. In this connection, again, 

 Mr. Wallace's hint is full of meaning. Everywhere 

 in nature, he points out, spots and eyes of colour 

 appear on the most highly-modified parts, and this 

 rule applies most noticeably to the case of petals. 

 Simple regular flowers, like the buttercups and roses, 

 hardly ever have any spots or lines ; but in very 

 modified forms like the labiates and the orchids they 

 are extremely common. The scrophularineous family, 

 to which the snap-dragon belongs, is one most specially 

 adapted to insects, and even more irregular than that 

 of the labiates ; and here we find the most singular 

 effects produced by dappling and mixture of colours. 

 The simple yellow mullein, it is true, has few such 

 spots or lines, nor have even many of the much higher 

 blue veronicas ; but in the snapdragons, the foxglove, 

 the toadflax, the ivy-linaria, the eyebright, and the cal- 



