bees, and if bees have so much to do 

 with the origin of flowers, how is it 

 that there are so few blue ones? I 

 believe the explanation to be that all 

 blue flowers have descended from 

 ancestors in which the flowers were 

 green, or, to speak more precisely, in 

 which the leaves surrounding the 

 stamens and pistil were green, and 

 that they have passed through stages 

 of white and yellow, and generally 

 red, before becoming blue." 



One cannot bear to think that our 

 -sweet, native wild hyacinth ever mas- 

 queraded in a gown of red or yellow, 

 for though it is far paler in colour 

 than the Siberian scilla, when it is 

 seen growing in a mass its effect can 

 hardly be improved upon. Baby's 

 Breath and Lady's Tresses are two of 

 the fanciful local names bestowed 

 on these charming plants in New 

 England. 



15 



