20 
COMPANION TO THE FLORAL MAGAZINE. 
from another variety to the stigma; the other, by the introduction of 
a bristle armed from other flowers, down the tube; the former is a 
very tedious process, the latter, but an imitation of nature's doings 
in her wide world of wonders, and from which source the larger quantity 
of seed is obtained. 
Hardly any one growing this flower, even to a moderate extent, can 
have failed to have remarked the number of moths in the warm autumn 
evenings, darting to and fro, hovering around, alighting on the blooms, 
and inserting the proboscis to partake of the nectar, placed out of the 
reach of nearly all insects but the favoured Lepidoptera. The species 
observed here in abundance is the classic Gamma ( Plusia Gamma), with 
emblazoned “ badge of all their tribe/' and occasionally some of the 
Sphingidce are noticed, more especially the Humming - bird Hawk 
Moth ( Macroglossa stellatarum ), that shuns not “ day's garish eye," but 
on bright mornings and evenings is often seen feasting, poised on quiver¬ 
ing wings, a striking resemblance to the “ winged gems " of more sunny 
climes. 
That these visits are necessary to fertilization in Verbenas "would ap¬ 
pear almost certain from the following circumstance. 
Thinking Foxhunter, from its large full truss, fine colour, and robust 
habit, a desirable kind, I last year put out fifty plants to save seed from; 
but to my disappointment none w r as obtained, each capitulum decaying, 
or, in gardening phraseology, “ shanking off," soon after the pips became 
detached. 
This led me to inspect the trusses closely, and, to my surprise, the 
centres of the corollas exhibited no denudation, neither under a low power 
of the microscope could any pollen be seen adherent to the hairs situated 
there (although the usual quantity was in the anthers beneath) or sprin¬ 
kled over the petals, as in others; and on subsequently "watching the 
denizens of the twilight in their fitful flights, I saw all pass by without 
even pausing to examine Foxhunter. Their disregard of this variety, the 
only instance I have ever met with, does not seem easy of explanation, 
the same sweetness to the taste being found at the extremities of the 
corolla-tubes ; there would appear to be no deficiency of nectar; neither 
can it be accounted for by colour, as other scarlets were searched, and I 
can only conjecture it to be connected with scent, that cc aromatic soul 
of flowers," some attractive exhalation being absent, and the peculiarity 
may serve to point out the mutual indebtedness of the two organic 
kingdoms; and that— 
“ The painted populace 
That live in fields and lead ambrosial lives ” 
are the instruments of productiveness in these and many other flowers, 
as they have been shown to be in some of complex structure by Mr. 
Darwin, in his admirable work on f The Fertilization of Orchids.' 
