40 GEOLOGICAL ANTIQUITY OF FLOWERS, [chap. 



which cross-fertihsation is favoured, or ensured, are 

 probably of very different geological antiquity. Thus 

 as Miiller has pointed out, the special peculiarities of 

 the Umbelliferae and CompositEe have been inherited 

 respectively from the ancestral forms of those orders ; 

 those of Delphinium, Aquilegia, Linaria, and Pedicu- 

 laris, from the ancestral forms of the respective 

 genera ; those of Polygoimm Fagopyriim, P. Bistorta, 

 Lonicei-a Caprifoliiim, &c., from the ancestors of those 

 species ; while in Lyshnachia vulgaris, Rhinatithus 



Fig. 43. — Malva sylvestris. 



Fig. 44. — Mah'a rotundifolia. 



Cristagalli, Veronica spicata, Euphrasia Odontites, and 

 E. officinalis, we find that differences have arisen even 

 within the limits of one and the same species. 



Among other obvious evidences that the beauty of 

 flowers is useful to them, in consequence of its attract- 

 ing insects, we may adduce those cases in which the 

 transference of the pollen is effected in different 

 manners in nearly allied plants, sometimes even in 

 different species belonging to the same genus. 



