Flowers. 173 



sweat which has run down a man's forehead is caught by 

 the eyebrow and eyelashes, and kept from entering the eye. 

 An insect, on the contrary, is not in the least hindered by 

 these hairs from getting at the droplet of nectar. 



" I then investigated other flowers, and found that vari- 

 ous sorts had something in their structure which seemed to 

 serve this same purpose. The longer I pursued this in- 

 vestigation, the more I perceived that those flowers which 

 contain nectar are so constructed that insects indeed can 

 get at it very easily, but that the rain cannot spoil it. I 

 therefore concluded that the nectar of these flowers is 

 secreted, at least principally, for the sake of insects, and 

 in order that they may enjoy it pure and unspoiled, it is 

 protected against the rain. 



" In the following summer I investigated the forget-me- 

 not (^Myosotis palustris). I found that this flower not only 

 has nectar, but also that the nectar is fully protected 

 against the rain. But at the same time I was struck by 

 the yellow ring which surrounds the mouth of the corolla 

 tube, and contrasts so beautifully with the sky-blue limb of 

 the corolla. Might possibly, thought I, this circumstance 

 also relate to insects .' Might nature perhaps have colored 

 this ring for the special purpose of showing insects the 

 way to the nectar receptacle .'' With this hypothesis in 

 mind I examined other flowers and found that most of them 

 corroborated it. For I saw that those flowers whose 

 corolla is colored in any way differently from the general 

 coloring always have these spots, figures, lines, or splashes 

 of distinct color where the entrance to the nectar receptacle 

 occurs. From the part I conceived the whole. If, thought 

 I, the corolla is colored differently in any place especially 

 for the sake of insects, its whole coloring must also be for 

 their sake ; and if any distinct color of a part of a corolla 



