Flowers of Caryophyllacece. 1 3 



plants, that is, in the evening, the nectar should fail, 

 then no insect would visit them, and the advantage of 

 geitonogamy or xenogamy, brought about by their 

 means, would be lost. The nectar, therefore, must be 

 reserved for the evening, and special arrangements must 

 be made by which other nectar-loving iasects, which 

 visit flowers at any time in the day, and which would 

 steal the nectar without any advantage to the plant, 

 may be kept off. 



These two examples wUl suffice to show that a 

 definite function belongs even to the most inconspi- 

 cuous modifications of the individual parts of flowers, 

 and that the parts of flowers must be protected, far 

 more even than the leaves, from injury and disturbance 

 in the performance of their functions, if the advantages 

 attached to flowering are to be attained. 



