MOllK MARRIAGE CUbTOMB. 121 



have a perianth (or combined calyx and corolla) 

 of six almost Kimilar brilliantly-coloured pieces 

 (in which, however, you can still, as a rule, 

 detect the sepals by their habit of overlappinf^ 

 the petals in the bud). Then they have a set of 

 six stamens. Inside that, again, tliey have a 

 single ovary, but if you cut it across with a 

 penknife you will see at oiice it contains three 

 chambers, each as a rule with several seeds; and 

 these three chambers are a memory of the time 

 when the ovary consisted of three separate 

 carpels. From their midst arises a single long 

 style ; but you may observe all the same that it 

 is made up of three original and distinct styles, 

 because it divides at the top into three stigmas 

 or sensitive surfaces. This is the general plan 

 of the lily group ; but in certain individual 

 lilies the stigma is undivided, and in others 

 again the parts are increased to four or even to 

 eight, so as to obscure the primitive threefold 

 arrangement. 



Most of the large and handsome lilies culti- 

 vated in gardens have perianths of separate 

 pieces, such as one knows so well in the tiger- 

 lily, the Turk's-cap lily, and the beautiful Japa- 

 nese llliuvi auratnm. They have also abundant 

 honey, stored in a deep groove of the spotted 

 petals, and they are variegated and lined in such 

 a way as to guide insects direct to their store of 

 nectar. But the family has been so successful 

 with the higlier insects, and has produced such 

 an extraordinary variety of very beautiful and 

 brilliant flowers, that it is quite impossible to 

 speak of them in detail. A few among them, 



