450 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1892. 



lip turned inward on itself and pressed down on the anthers as 

 closely as if these latter were in a vise. No pollen seems to have 

 been ejected from the anther cells. 



When the fulness of time arrives and the flower opens, the lips 

 springing apart, the lower lip forms a tube and tightly enfolds the 

 filaments. The expansion in different directions of the lips of the 

 corolla is rapid. In less than one minute there will be a space of 

 half an inch between them at their apices. The straightening of the 

 filaments seems to be the chief motor in this movement. The effect 

 is to draw the filaments wholly from the enfoldment of the lower 

 lobe. The central lobe of the lower lip, which until this time has 

 been pressed down on the anthers as already noted, rises at once 

 when the upper lip has drawn them out, and assumes a vertical j^osi- 

 tion. This is the last active effort. Rest then follows in all parts 

 of the flower till next evening, when the little lobe takes another 

 start and falls to a direct plane with the other portions of the lip. 



The stamens in the bud are rather longer than the upper lobe of 

 the corolla, while the pistil is rather shorter ; hence when these are 

 enfolded by the upper lip, only the upper portion of the stamens 

 with the anthers, project beyond the apex of the lip. The anther 

 sacs seem to burst simultaneously with the expansion of the lips, 

 and while the whole pistil is enfolded by the incurved portion of 

 the lip. It would seem that no pollen would reach the stigmas at 

 this time. 



At this juncture the picture is extremely beautiful. In all the 

 force of expansion the anthers on the separate filaments continue 

 connected by their lower filaments and become erect, looking, with 

 a little play of the imagination, as if they had formed a blue basket, 

 the pollen representing white flowers, the basket held up by the two 

 arms over the head of an invisible cherub, as seen in some 

 conventional pictures of a child with flowers. It is not till some 

 time afterward that the divided apex of the pistil protrudes. 



At night-fall the next day the stamens begin to wither. The 

 anthers consist of two linear cells, end to end, and so close as to be 

 almost confluent. These two cells do not shrivel simultaneously ; 

 the upper one goes first. As neighboring genera have but one cell, 

 this little matter is of interest, as showing the connecting link. 

 During the withering the viscid matter which caused the adherence 

 of the pollen, seems to dry, and the pollen, probably still function- 

 able, is distributed by the winds. 



