FERNS, FOSSILS AND FUEL 
flies and bees, in their anxiety to sip the nectar from 
flowers, carry the small amount of pollen that is sufficient 
to fertilize a plant, from the stamens of one flower to the 
pistils of another. Without this help, the flowering plants 
could never have reproduced themselves on a large scale, 
for wind pollination, on which they had been dependent 
before the insects became numerous, is extremely wasteful 
and inefficient. And since the insects are mainly attracted 
by the gay colors and aromatic odors of the flowers, we 
must assume that the trees, shrubs, and herbs of that 
time were beautiful in color and strongly perfumed. 
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