229 
by the Agency of Insects. 
presumably among green vegetation. If the clay-banks are 
almost destitute of green vegetation, and especially if they are 
whitish or reddish, the green colour of the fungus may serve 
to make it conspicuous. It is not stated whether it has odour 
or not. 
As is well known from the labours of Sprengel, Darwin. 
Muller, and others, the colours of flowers have been gradually 
developed by the beneficial visits of insects, and in Table V 
the percentage proportions of several colours are given in the 
case of flowers, Phalloidei, and other fungi. 
TABLE V. 
White. 
Yellow. 
T3 
<D 
Blue. 
Violet. 
Green. 
Brown or 
blackish. 
Flowers 1 
(4197 species) . . . 
28-5 
22'6 
21*96 
14*1 
7*3 
3*6 
0*5 
Phalloi- \ 
( Receptacle (59 species) 
40 
6-4 
50 
0*0 
0*0 
r6 
r6 (?) 
dei | 
! Volva (45 species) 
77 ’ 2 
4'5 
2*2 
0*0 
2*2 
0*0 
i 3*5 
Other fungi (1288 species) . . 
i 3 ‘ 2 2 
4-6 
6*9 2 
2 
17 3 
73 ' 1 
These figures bring out very strikingly the preponderance 
of flower-like hues among the Phalloidei in comparison with 
other fungi ; 73 per cent, of flowers, 96*6 per cent, of Phalloidei 
and only 247 per cent, of other fungi being either white, red, or 
yellow. Blue and violet, which are common enough in flowers, 
are rare among fungi. The reason of this comparative com- 
monness in the former may be explained by the fact that they 
are, as a rule, found in highly developed flowers, which are 
fertilised by the more specialised insects ; in other words, that 
these colours are the result of the effort of the flower not 
merely to make itself conspicuous, but at the same time to 
differentiate itself from the commoner colours of the more 
abundant flowers, so that the insect may discover the par- 
1 Kohler and Schubler, quoted in Balfour’s Manual of Botany, p. 329. 
2 Including impure tints. 3 Including bluish. 
