132 



* 



HARD WICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



say, we have not yet discovered their use, and, 

 therefore, they must be incidental, &c* 



Now herein lies the pith of the whole argument. 

 My contention is, that it is not the function, i.e. 

 not the sole function of the colours of flowers to 

 attract insects ; to my mind they have a higher 

 function than this, 'tis that of ministering to the 

 happiness of man, by gratifying that sense of beauty 

 with which he has been endowed. 



I readily, however, admit that they may be useful 

 in thus attracting insects ; " these creatures incidentally 

 performing an office in the reproductive economy." 

 Nay, I may even go further and say that, for aught 

 we know, in many instances bright-hued flowers 

 may be a source of pleasure to the animated atoms 

 frequenting them. Specialised or not, however, it in 

 no wise proves that all primitive flowers were of 

 necessity colourless ; on the contrary it will, I venture 

 to think, be more reasonable to conclude that, seeing 

 the advantage derived by them from their bright 

 hues, they were, many of them, originally brightly 

 coloured, and not, as the selectionists assume, 

 colourless. 



Now if all, or a large proportion of flowers were 

 now beautifully coloured, if all were monoecious, and 

 if all were insect -loved, then it might most reasonably 

 be assumed that their sole function was to attract 

 insects. But it is far otherwise, for innumerable 

 flowers visited by insects are not conspicuous for 

 their bright colours, do not occur sexually distinct ; 

 and a vast proportion being self-fertilizing or 

 anemophilous, need not the services of insects at all, 

 many of these latter yet being brilliantly coloured, 

 so that, indeed, there seems to be no rule as to 

 colour. The fact that "insects visit numbers of 

 flowers solely for the sake of the pollen," of which 

 fact I am not, of course, ignorant, in no wise helps 

 the selection theory, inasmuch as that although such 

 plants are visited by pollen-gatherers, they may yet 

 be, and very generally are fertilized by other means ; 

 that is to say, they are not dependent upon insects for 

 fertilization. 



Mr. Tansley himself admits that originally the 

 pigments of flowers, which are elsewhere asserted to 

 have been non-existent, were merely " incidental 

 products of physiological processes," but in effect 

 says that these have now become essential. If not 

 essential once, why should they be so now? (An 

 answer from the selectionist's point of view appears 

 elsewhere.) 



Mr. Tansley says that ' ' the colours of flowers 

 could have no function before entomophily became 



* Speaking of the general colour relations of plants, Mr. 

 Wallace says that "These all belong to the class of intrinsic 

 or normal colours, due to the chemical constitution of the 

 organism ; as colours they are unadaptive, and appear to have 

 no more relation to the well-being of the plants themselves 

 than do the colours of gems and minerals," adding, further on. 

 page 304, " It is when we come to the essential parts of plants 

 on which their perpetuation and distribution depend that we 

 find colour largely utilised for a distinct purpose in flowers 

 and fruit." " Darwinism," Macmillan, 1889. 



general," and that, therefore, their existence was an 

 "evolutionary impossibility." What then of the 

 colours of plants and seeds ? 'Tis not contended 

 that they were once non-existent. 



I cannot help thinking that here, in speaking of 

 colour, Mr. Tansley falls into the error of speaking 

 rather of the quality or property of a thing, as apart 

 from the thing itself. 'Tis not a single quality, 'tis 

 the several qualities or properties pertaining to the 

 thing that constitute its real significance. 



As regards flowers, it is very questionable whether 

 if they were never so brilliantly coloured they would 

 be visited by insects, which are attracted not by the 

 colours alone, but also by sweet odours, pollen and 

 honey — mostly by the last ; consequently we find 

 that where honey is absent even beautiful-hued 

 flowers are comparatively neglected — if we except 

 those visited by pollen-gatherers, a mere handful 

 compared with those attracted either by honey alone 

 or associated with pollen. Take, for instance, the 

 host of lepidoptera, many of the hymenoptera and 

 diptera that visit flowers solely for their honey. No,, 

 'tis one of the functions of flcnueis to attract insects, 

 not the sole function of their colours. Could we 

 penetrate more deeply into nature's secrets we should 

 probably discover that the colours of plants and seeds 

 are just as much concerned in physiological processes- 

 as are the colours of flowers. Both plant and seed,, 

 too, have their function. Is it not as much the 

 function of the plant to begin the process of repro- 

 duction as it is for the flower to carry it on ? Within 

 the unfolded flower-bud is there not stored up the as 

 yet unfertilized seed ? Are not physiological processes 

 involved in the production of the flower from the 

 plant, and of the fruit and seed from the flower, and 

 have they not equally " a physiological significance 

 of their own " ? 



Perfectly aware am I of the fact that at one time 

 phanerogamous plants did not exist. I am also 

 aware that it is asserted that "among plants there 

 are numerous cases in which flowers once specially 

 adapted to be fertilized by insects have lost their 

 gay corolla and their special adaptations, and have 

 become degraded into wind-fertilized forms." Now, 

 whether produced by a special creative fiat, as on2e 

 believed, or whether, as is more in accord with, 

 evolutionary views, by a gradual process of evolution 

 from humble cryptogams, is not material to our 

 argument. Thus much we do know — that at near 

 the close of the tertiary period not only dicotyledonous 

 trees formed extensive forests, but that plants belong- 

 ing to the Primulacece, Scrophulariacea, Crassulaceic, 

 and other existing orders abounded, and that azaleas, 

 ericas, honeysuckles, rhododendrons, &c, garnished 

 the earth with beauty as at the present day. Now as- 

 these plants were many of them specifically allied to- 

 existing forms, the colours were presumably as- 

 varied. 



Even allowing that phanerogams were evolved from 



