RED CAMPION AGAIN. 



45 



the honey are concealed out of sight of the 

 useless small insects, and they can only be 

 reached by the long proboscis of the bee or 

 the butterfly. To prevent ants, small beetles, 

 and other honey-eating intruders from creep- 

 ing up the stalk, and so rifling the nectaries 

 without doing any good to the plant in return, 

 the stem of the campion is covered with hairs, 

 and it exudes a sticky, viscid gum, both of 

 which peculiarities aid it in baffling the un- 

 welcome wingless visitors ; while the inflated 

 calyx and long tube effectually keep out all 

 flying insects, except the few for whose visits 

 the plant specially lays itself out. Nay, as if 

 so many precautions were not enough, the 

 mouth of the tube, above the stamens, is 

 furthermore obstructed by five little valves or 

 scales, one being attached to the claw of each 

 petal ; and these scales can easily be craned 

 over, like tiny walls, by the large and long 

 proboscis of the bees or moths, but not by 

 the little thieving flies against whose incur- 

 sions the flowers are so anxious to guard 



