FLOWERS AND SEEDS. 
59 
coming in contact with the anthers, so that the 
pollen escapes and clings to them. And thus, when 
another flower is visited, the pollen is brushed 
against the sticky stigma, and so remains.” 1 
FLOWERS AND SEEDS (FERTILIZATION).— II. 
1 . We can now understand why so many flowers 
display bright colours, or give out sweet odours. 
By so doing they attract the attention of insects 
and small birds, which, in feeding on their sweet 
juices, carry the pollen from flower to flower. 
2 . In some flowers, such as the lilies and orchids, 
even the sepals put on gay colours like the petals; 
as if to help to make sure that the flower shall not 
go unnoticed by the insects to which it offers its 
tempting nectar. 
3. Some petals are even spotted and marked in 
such a way that the lines serve as ‘ honey-guides ’ 
to the little visitors. At the same time, the sweet 
juice is stored away where the insect cannot reach 
it without brushing off some of the pollen, or 
leaving upon the stigma some that it has brought. 
4. You must not think that any one insect feeds 
on nectar from all flowers. Each form of flower has 
its own particular visitors. By the growth of hairs 
on the petals, or by the nectar being far away at 
1 Nicholls’ Tropical Agriculture , pp. 33, 34. 
