452 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXXVII. 



wood) have reverted to wind-fertilization and are greenish or 

 yellowish. 



The individual flower in the Corrrpositae is small and of little 

 significance. Conspicuousness is gained by massing first the 

 flowers, then the capitula. and finally the plants themselves. If 

 the capitulum is large, as in Helianthus, it may be solitary, but 

 if small, as in Solidago, they may be aggregated into dense 

 flower-clusters. Many species are, moreover, gregarious, and so 

 1 1 t tl t they constitute important features in the floral 

 landscape. Such are the white weed, thistle, sunflower, golden- 

 rod, and aster. Kerner states that in New Zealand the small 

 white flowers of Haastia are so densely aggregated that they 

 form hemispherical mounds two feet high by three feet in 

 length. The plant is known as " vegetable sheep " since at a 

 distance it is frequently mistaken for that animal. 



With the exception of the Umbelliferae, or carrot family, no 

 flowers are visited by so large and miscellaneous a company of 

 insects as the Compositae. The guests of a single species may 

 exceed one hundred in number. The nectar is more deeply con- 

 cealed than in the Umbelliferae, and the percentage of long- 

 tongued visitors is consequently much greater. Throughout the 

 Compositae bright coloration is correlated with pollination by 

 insects; and when a genus reverts to wind-fertilization, the 

 inflorescence becomes inconspicuous. It is interesting to note 

 that the species, which attract the largest number of visitors, 

 display a variety of colors, as in the bright yellow goldenrods, 

 Chrysanthemum leucanthemum with white rays and a yellow disk, 

 Achillea millefolium white or tinged with red, the asters with a 

 yellow disk and white or blue rays, and the purple-flowered Can- 



