360 |. REV. GEORGE HENSLOW ON THE 
differ from those of the ordinary flowers; but as they ripen under the moss or vegetable detritus which 
covers the rhizome, they cannot be projected around the mother plant, but remain in their place, 
My own observations do not agree entirely with the last sentence; for I have often 
found the fruit-capsules elevated and the seeds with quite as elastic a coat as those 
derived from the fully developed flowers. 
Impatiens fulva and I. Noli-me-tangere have also eleistogamous flowers. For full de- 
seriptions the reader is referred to Mr. Darwin's work, ‘Forms of Flowers,’ p. 327, where ` 
reference to other describers is given. —Zmpatiens parviflora is undoubtedly self-fertilizing. 
The stigma lies amongst the anthers, which burst even before the flower is opened, and 
I have detected pollen-tubes penetrating in that condition. 3 
Lreuminos&.—That this order has its flowers generally adapted for insect-agency * all E 
will'admit. Mr. Farrer's elaborate description of Pisum, quoted by Mr. Darwin, ‘Cross — 
and Self-fertilisation, p. 160, will furnish the reader with details. Nevertheless there — 
are a great many very inconspicuously flowering species, as well as at least twelve "E a 
cleistogamous forms (‘ Forms of Flowers,’ p. 313). | 4 
Of the different species of Trifolium, Mr. Darwin thus writes :— 7. incarnatum. “The a | 
flowers whieh were visited by bees produced between five and six times as many seeds E 
as those whieh were protected." E 
T. pratense. ‘ One hundred flower-heads on plants protected by a net did not produce 
a single seed, whilst one hundred heads on plants growing outside, which were visited by 
bees, yielded 68 grains weight of seeds; and as 80 seeds weighed 2 grains, the 100 heads 
must have yielded 2720 seeds.” (Cross and Self-Fert. p. 361.) 
. T. repens. The crossed and self-fertilized plants of Mr. Darwin yielded seeds in one © 
year in the ratio of 10:1, and in the second year twenty heads, unprotected, yielded 2290 — 
seeds, while twenty protected beads had “ only a single aborted seed.” | 
With regard to Clover Mr. Meehan observes (Gard. Chron. Sept. 11, 1875) :—* I am 
satisfied that in all eases I examined flowers just before expanding, and before any insect 
had interfered with them, the pistil had received its own pollen .... I covered a patch ` 
of clover with a sieve, having $ inch meshes. No Bees could get to gem: I think I may — 
say every flower perfected seed. Unfortunately, I found on one examination a small | 
Sand-wasp had ventured through, and was collecting pollen from a flower, Ido not — 
think any but this one entered; still it diminished seriously the value of the ex- — 
periment.” Mr. Meehan gives some further statements upon the Red and White Clovers 
which, if trustworthy, are opposed to Mr. Darwin; for while the latter found, on protected - 
Trifolium pratense, no seed was set, the former observed that Humble-bees, which alone ` 
apparently fertilize the red clover, would not visit a field when the white clover, 7. re- 
pens, was in blossom; and yet the red clover-fields “bore seed as fully as most insect- 
frequented fields would do." Assuming both of these accurate observers to be correct, 
the inference is unavoidable that the red clover, although highly differentiated, 80 as to. 3 
_* I have described the peeuliar construction of Medicago sativa (Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot. ix. pp. 327 & 355) onl of 2 
Genista tinctoria (Journ. Linn. Soc., Bot. x. p. 468) ; reproduced by Müller in his * Befrucht. Ze? pp. 225 and 235. 
The methods of fertilization have been grouped by H. Müller into four series, fee. Lubbock's. ‘British wild : 
Flowers in Relation to — p 90. . ; vitet 
