196 COLOURS OF FLOWERS AS A MEANS OF ATTRACTING ANIMALS. 



for them a scarlet colour may be an eifective means of allurement even from a great 

 distance. Butterflies, as already mentioned, hover over the flowers of the Scarlet 

 Geranium; Monarda didyma is industriously visited by a large humble-bee, and 

 various animals are seen to fly to other scarlet-red flowers, especially in tropical 

 regions. Such flowers in particular affect 'the humming-bird. Indeed it seems 

 that this tiny bird in its search after honey prefers scarlet flowers. Perhaps it 

 depends upon this that plants with scarlet flowers are distributed chiefly in those 

 regions where humming-birds have their home. Certainly it is noteworthy that 

 the scarlet colour is only rarely met with in Asia and Europe, particularly in the 

 Alpine, Baltic, Black Sea, and Mediterranean Floras; whilst an exceptionally large 

 number of such flowers occur in America, particularly in Carolina, Texas, Mexico, 

 the West Indies, Brazil, Peru, and Chili. In the primeval forests of Central 

 America every traveller is struck by the great number of Lianes and Epiphytes of 

 the families Acanthacese, Bignoniacese, Bromeliacese, Cyrtandrese, and Gesneracese, 

 which bear scarlet flowers, and of which we may mention as examples — Bignonia 

 venusta, Lamprococcus miniatus, Pitcavrnia flavimea, Nemanthus Guille- 

 TThinianus, Mitraria coccinea, and Beloperone involucrata. Lobelias, Fuchsias, 

 and Begonias with fiery red cups (Lobelia cardinalis, fulgens, graminea, splendens, 

 Texensis, Fuchsia coccinea, cylindria, fulgens, radicans, spectabilis, Begonia 

 fuchsioides, &c.), the scarlet species of Sage which are surrounded by humming- 

 birds {Salvia coccinea, cardinalis), the various species of Alonsoa and Russelia 

 belonging to the Scrophulariacess, the remarkable Erythrinas (Erythrina crista- 

 galli, herbacea, speciosa), and the Caesalpinieae of the genera Amherstia and 

 Brownea (Amherstia nobilis, Brownea coccinea and grandiceps), whose flowers are 

 so constructed that their honey can hardly be obtained except by the hovering 

 humming-bird — all these find a home in the American regions above-mentioned. 

 Further observations in tropical regions are required to ascertain whether there are 

 not other flower-visiting animals besides humming-birds and butterflies, especially 

 flies and beetles, which can distinguish scarlet flowers and fly to them; for certain 

 plants, as, for example, the Brazilian Aroids with their large scarlet spathes, 

 e.g. Anthurium Scherzerianum (the Flamingo Plant), A. Andrenum and Lawrence- 

 anum, have no honey, and are consequently disregarded by humming-birds and 

 butterflies. 



That scarlet flowers are not visited by the hawk-moths, owlet-moths, and other 

 crepuscular and night-flying animals is obvious, since when twilight falls, scarlet, 

 as well as purple-red, violet, and blue flowers become invisible. At this time only 

 those flowers can be seen which are coloured white or yellow on the side turned 

 towards the flying animals, as, for example, the Evening Primrose ((Enothera), the 

 Honeysuckle (Lonicera Caprifolium), some Nyctagineae (e.g. Mirabilis longiflora), 

 many Solanacese (e.g. Nicotiana affinis. Datura Stramonium), numerous Caryo- 

 phyllaceae of the genus Silene (e.g. Silene nutans, longiflora, Saxifraga), various 

 species of Yucca and Galonyction, and, most of all, the large-flowered Mexican 

 Cactuses of the genus Echinocactus and Cereus, of which the species known as 



