. Essentials of botany. Botany; Botany. ECOLOGY OF FLOWERS; POLLINATION 171 wire netting which covers a piece of fresh meat or a dish of syrup, and bees, wasps, and hornets will fairly besiege the window screens of a kitchen where preserving is going on. Many plants find it possible to attract as many insect visitors as they need without giving off any scent, but small flowers, like the mignonette, and night-blooming ones, like the white tobacco and the evening primrose, are sweet-scented to at-' tract night-flying moths. It is interesting to observe that the majority of the flowers which bloo
. Essentials of botany. Botany; Botany. ECOLOGY OF FLOWERS; POLLINATION 171 wire netting which covers a piece of fresh meat or a dish of syrup, and bees, wasps, and hornets will fairly besiege the window screens of a kitchen where preserving is going on. Many plants find it possible to attract as many insect visitors as they need without giving off any scent, but small flowers, like the mignonette, and night-blooming ones, like the white tobacco and the evening primrose, are sweet-scented to at-' tract night-flying moths. It is interesting to observe that the majority of the flowers which bloom at night are white, and that they are much more generally sweet-scented than flowers which bloom during the day. A few flowers are carrion- scented (and purplish or brownish colored) and attract flies. 203. Colors of Flowers Flowers which are of any other color than green probably in most cases display their colors to attract insects, or occasion- ally birds. It is certain, however, that colors are less important means of attrac- tion than odors, from the fact that insects are extremely near-sighted. Butterflies and moths cannot see •distinctly at a distance of more than about five feet, bees and wasps at more than two feet, and flies at more than two and a fourth feet. Prob- ably no insects can make out objects clearly more than six feet away; ^ yet it is quite possible that their attention is attracted by colors at distances greater than those mentioned.^ 1 See Packard's Text-Book of Entomology, p. 260. 2 See Lubbock's Flowers, Fruits, and Leaves, Chapter I. On the general subject of colors and odors in relation to insects, see Knuth-Davis' Handbook of Flower Pollination, Clarendon Press, Fig. 127. Stamens and. Pistil of the Grape (mag- nified), with a Nectar Gland, g, between Each Pair of Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illust
Size: 1439px × 1737px
Photo credit: © Central Historic Books / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbotany, bookyear1908
