8 
ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 
I have given a sufficient number of instances to show that very- 
many flowers are distasteful to some animals, and it is quite possible 
that this may be the case to a greater or less degree with most, if 
not all, flowers when fresh. 
Protection by means of Objectionable Flavours and Colour. 
The value to a plant of an objectionable flavour as a means of 
protection is increased by its being accompanied by a colour which 
is easily noticeable. For although herbivorous animals when 
feeding may be largely guided by their olfactory sense in rejecting 
those plants which are the least palatable, yet they can see flowers 
at some distance and may recognise them either as inedible or at 
least not such agreeable food as the surrounding herbage. In such 
cases the animal may be expected to avoid the spot where the 
flowers grow, and the leaves of the plant, which might be acceptable 
food, would be spared. Such means of protection occur frequently 
amongst insects. The gayly-mottled currant-moth, which has a 
most disagreeable flavour, flies slowly in broad daylight and is 
never attacked by birds, but if it were dull-coloured it might be 
mistaken for an edible moth. 
Flowers have much to gain by being prominent. Their modesty 
would be a false virtue, for the assertion of their presence by every 
means in their power is not only a protection but is necessary to 
the fulfilment of their function. Yet their beauty and conspicuous¬ 
ness are sometimes a danger. Sparrows have begun to attack the 
flower of the crocus in our town gardens. Man also in spite of all 
his artificial ways is still part of nature and has to be considered. 
It is he who has nearly exterminated the primroses near our large 
towns, and the ladies-slipper, Turk’s cap-lily, and wild tulip from 
the country. The public cannot refrain from plucking a beautiful 
wild flower, and if the species be occasional they soon make it 
rare. Our botanists then become anxious to procure specimens, 
and soon none remain except in gardens and cabinets. 
Insignificant flowers are sometimes rendered most conspicuous 
by the form and colour of the leaves which surround them. Such 
involucres serve not only as an attraction for insects, but also as a 
means of protection. In the case of Poinsettia pulcherrima the 
crimson leaves appear and disappear with the flowers. In common 
with other Euphorbise, many of which have similar though less 
conspicuous bracts, the juice is exceedingly acrid, and the richly- 
coloured leaves may play the part of “ warning colours ” to grazing 
animals. We know that the stimulation of the retina by the 
different rays of light, not only produces the sensation of colour, 
