238 THE TEACHING BOTANIST 



therefore of the pollen, but it must be made to approach the 

 nectar in such a way as to leave upon the stigma the pollen 

 it has brought, and to take a new supply ; hence the different 

 shapes and sizes of flowers shape being chiefly to make the 

 insect enter the flower in a position proper to secure the 

 pollination, and size being in general related to the size and 

 form of the visiting insect. This mode of reasoning must be 

 used with great caution, and not allowed by the pupils without 

 the most complete evidence for their arguments. It is im- 

 possible, however, for them to work out without great time and 

 labor the true theory of the flower, and a theoretical account 

 of it like this is much better than none. It would be far 

 better to obtain a basis for such a description by study of wild 

 flowers out of doors in summer. 



Like most other teachers, I have used blank forms for 

 description of flowers, but have abandoned them, not because 

 they are not valuable if properly used, but because much more 

 good can be obtained from the same amount of time and 

 labor spent as here recommended. Besides, the blanks imply 

 a great amount of work on terminology, which again, while 

 far from valueless, does not, nevertheless, in my opinion, con- 

 stitute the best use that can be made of the students' energy 

 and time. 



Of great value in the study of flowers is the representation 

 of the fundamental facts of their structure by horizontal and 

 vertical diagrams as called for under Exercise 53. These are 

 intended to represent, not superficial features of form, etc., so 

 much as fundamental relations of number, relative position, 

 coalescence, etc. Ground plans for this purpose are given in 

 all works upon floral structures, but the equally useful ver- 

 tical plan is much less used. As an example, there are here 

 given these diagrams for Scilla and Hyacinth (Figs. 25, 26). 



