102 THE STORY OP THE PLANTS. 



special insect fertilisation. They are the colum- 

 bine, the larkspur, and the monkshood. In the 

 simple buttercups, the honey, we saw, was easily 

 accessible to many small insects ; but in the 

 winter aconite it was made more secure by 

 being kept, as it were, in a sort of deep jar; and 

 in these highest of the family it is still further 

 hidden away, in special nooks and recesses, like 

 vases or pitchers, so as to be only procurable by 

 bees and butterflies. These higher insects, on 

 the other hand, are the safest fertilisers, because 

 they have legs and a proboscis exactly adapted 

 to the work they are meant for ; and they have 

 also as a rule a taste for red, blue, and purple 

 flowers, rather than for simple white or yellow 

 ones. Hence the blossoms that specially lay 

 themselves out for the higher insects are almost 

 always blue or purple. 



Columbine still retains the original five sepals 

 and five petals of its buttercup ancestor. But 

 the sepals here are blue or purple, and are 

 displayed between the petals in a most curious 

 manner, so as to help in the coloured advertise- 

 ment of the honey. The petals, on the other 

 hand, are turned into long spurred horns, each 

 with a big drop of honey in its furthest recess, 

 securely placed where only an insect with a very 

 long proboscis has any chance of reaching it. 

 Within these two rows come the numerous 

 stamens ; and within them again a set of five 

 carpels, each many-seeded. The columbine is 

 so secure of getting its seed set by bees or 

 butterflies that it is able to dispense with the 

 extra carpels. 



