[148]

Thalia on Roof

[datasheet not used] (Used)

[148v]

54 665

Chap. E 10

visited by small nocturnal Lepidoptera, as these are known to being much strongly attracted by sugar.* The two lists given in the early part of this chapter support Müller's conclusion that small and inconspicuous flowers are completely self-fertile: for only 8 or 9 out of the 121 species in the two lists come under this head, and all of these have been were proved to be highly fertile when insects are were excluded. The singularly inconspicuous flowers of the Fly Ophrys (O. muscifera) are and as I have elsewhere shown, are rarely visited by insects; and it is a strange instance of imperfection & contradiction to the above rule and that these are not self-fertile, and consequently so that a large proportion of the flowers do not produce seeds. The converse of the proposition that plants bearing small and inconspicuous flowers are self-fertile,─ namely that plants with large and conspicuous flowers are self-sterile, is far from true, as may be seen in our second list of spontaneously self-fertile species; for this list includes such species as Ipomoea purpurea, Adonis aestivalis,