308 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1893. 



when it first ventured on its hyperborean march, — for the great 

 home of the family is undoubtedly sub-tropical. The seeds of this 

 and other plants with a similar home, are frost-proof. They will 

 live in the ground, under any degree of frost. Hence sub-tropical 

 plants that can perfect their seeds before frost arrives, can travel 

 very far northward. It is to this power and not to any change of 

 original character by environment that the northward march of 

 these plants has been due. 



Early Fertilization of Scutellaria galericulata. 



Wishing to study the teleology of the crest or pouch on the calyx 

 lobe of Scutellaria, a large number of specimens of S. galericulata 

 in various stages of growth were collected at Seal Harbor, Me., on 

 July 13. No additional light could be thrown on the purpose of 

 this curious process, but some facts not generally known in relation 

 to the behavior of the flower during anthesis were noted as being 

 worth recording. 



Of all authors at the command of the writer, Bromfield 1 is the 

 only one that notes in this species that " the stamens as well as the 

 style included, and lodged with it in the oblong inflated convexity 

 or crown of the upper lip." I had noticed that every flower was 

 fertile, and from this inferred self-fertilization. The style is never 

 longer than the stamens, and the anthers and upper portion of the 

 style are bound together in their " lodging." The anthers burst 

 their sacs simultaneously with the expansion of the flower, and 

 cover the whole upper portion of the style with pollen. Portions of 

 the corolla fold so tightly over the upper portions of stamens and 

 style that no insect can reach them. Even when an attempt is 

 made to press open this portion of the corolla with a light twig, the 

 expansion is unwillingly performed. 



A remarkable circumstance is that the flower falls soon after full 

 expansion, carrying the style with it, thus showing that full fertili- 

 zation of the ovarium had already taken place. It is probable that 

 the pollen grains are active much earlier in the unopened flower, 

 than seemed to be the case from my few hours of observation. 



Fertilization of Trifolium pratense. 



At my own residence, Philadelphia, I have never been able to 

 notice humble-bees entering Ked Clover by the mouth of the corolla, 



1 Flora Vectensis, p. 383. 



