Curved Leaves and Petals. 129 



less insects, and notably ants, find it impossible to 

 mount upwards over such leaves as these. The little 

 creatures run up the stem, and may even not unfrequently 

 traverse the under surface of the leaves, if not too 

 smooth ; but the reflexed and slippery margin is more 

 than the best climbers among them can get over, and if 

 they attempt it they invariably fall to the ground. 

 There is no necessity for the lamina of the leaf to be 

 very broad ; even narrow leaves, as for instance those 

 of Gmtianaf/rma Neilr. var. (of which I have given a 

 lateral view on Plate I. fig. 1, and a transverse section 

 in fig. 2), are enough for the purpose, supposing, of 

 course, that the margin is bent backwards in the way 

 described. 



The perianth-leaves also, when curved and bent in 

 appropriate fashion, can act in the same manner, and 

 repel the attempts of unbidden creepers to make their 

 way into the recesses of the flower. I placed some 

 small and by no means timid ants, of a kind {Lasius 

 niger) which under ordinary circumstances show them- 

 selves to be capital climbers, on the flowers of Cyclamen 

 europceum (Plate I. fig. 6). At first they tried to make 

 their escape downwards by the peduncle ; but, as I had 

 put the flower-stalk in water, they turned back and 

 managed to re-cross the calyx and get back to the 

 corolla. After some useless clambering about the 

 reflexed tips of the petals, they at last reached their 

 curved margins, and here all their skill was baffled. 



