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Show I TR D 'TION. h w v r, ar f rvi e in anoth r and very differ nt nu1nn r nan1 ly, by £ lding inwards at night a1Hl dnrino- ld rainy w th r, o a t prot ct th fl r t c f th . 1\I re v r th y ften contain matter whi ·h i . iv ly I i n u t insects, a may be <~ ,n in u f fi a-powd r, and in the a of Pyr thrum, 1\I. lh rome has shown that th ray-fi >r t ar m r p i onou than th disc-flor t in th rn. i f ab ut thr to tw . W may ther fore b :.li v th< t th ray-fl r t are u oful in protecting th flowers fron1 b incr crnaw d by insects.t It i. a w 11-kn wn yet r marka ble fact that th cir- <'tnn£ r ntial flow rs of many of the foregoing plants he: v th th ir mal an l £ n1ale reproductive organs · bort <1, a with th Hydrangea, Viburnum and rtain 1111 it< ; r th male organs alone are abort d, as in nutny 0 mp it(. . Between the sexless, female and h rmaphr dit tates of these latter flowers, the fin st gnulati n may b traced, as Hildebrand has shown. t II al h w that th re is a close relation betw n th iz f th c r lla in the ray-florets and the d grce of b rti n in th ir reproductive organs. As we have g d r a n to believe that these florets are highly .rvi · bl to the plants which possess them, more , pe ially by r ndering the flower-heads conspicuous gnawed, and thus the organs of fructification are prott·ctcd. 1\Iy grandfather in 1790 (' Lov of the Plants,' canto iii. note to lines 184, 188) remarks that '' Tho flowers or petals of plants arc perlmps in genernl mor aerid than their leaves; hen e tb y are much eldomer eaten by ins ct ." t ' Ueber uie G oschlecb t verbaltnisse bei den Oompo::liten,' 18()9, pp. 78-91. I TR t 111 1 lnr(r ly rt l. th ir lla int ri r lop· 1, and xv'ii. 2nd <lit. v 1. ii. pp. 1~2 , l<>ti. |