HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



173 



Veronica in having two fertile stamens, which are the 

 same in position, but it differs in possessing three 

 staminodes. 



One of them,' representing the posterior or fifth 

 stamen (the rudiment of which is so frequently found 

 in this order), is a very insignificant, although quite 

 distinct, structure, attached to the very base of the 

 hood, and just at the bottom of the groove. Whether 

 it fulfils any function in producing nectar, I have not 

 been able to determine. The other two staminodes, 

 representing the anterior stamens, are attached to 

 the hinder end of the ridges, in the manner repre- 

 sented in Fig. C. The two fertile stamens lie at first 

 deeply ensconced within the hood, the fiFaments 

 being strongly curved back from their point of 

 attachment. Later they lose this curvature, and 

 become parallel with the style which projects straight 

 forward from the corolla tube, with the tip curved so 

 as to present the slightly lobed stigma to any entering 

 visitor. It will be observed that there is a rough 

 resemblance in the appearance of the flower to an 

 Orchis, and this is enhanced by the fact that the 

 flower is inverted, not, however, by torsion, but by 

 a sharp curvature of the pedicel, so that the platform 

 and hood lie lowermost and horizontally. To realise 

 the normal position of the flower, imagine Fig. A 

 tilted up through an angle of 90°. 



Having described the structure, we come to the 

 action, which is very curious. Taking a leaf out of 

 Darwin's book, I at first experimented on the groove 

 with pins and pencils. In about one flower out of 

 six, one and sometimes both stamens would spring 

 forward and become nearly parallel with the style. 

 This is the mysterious part of the business, as in every 

 case where a stamen came forth in that manner, the 

 anthers had already discharged their pollen, and I 

 have failed to detect either the part which such a 

 movement would play in fertilisation, or the mechan- 

 ism by which it is eff'ected. I am inclined to believe 

 it is a phenomenon of old age, due to the release of 

 the tension of the filament, caused by its curvature 

 from its point of attachment into the hood. The 

 platform and hood are attached to the rest of the 

 corolla by an elastic hinge ; and any pressure on the 

 platform will depress it and cause the stamens to 

 come forth, not by any movement of their own, but 

 by remaining stationary. An insect would alight 

 upon this platform, and not upon the lip or anterior 

 petal. The depression of the platform would follow, 

 and the anthers would strike against the underside 

 of the visitor. Upon the removal of the weight, 

 the stamens, if they are young, resume their 

 original position within the hood ; but the older the 

 flower, the less is the elasticity by virtue of which 

 the hood flies to the old position. This flower seems 

 to be very rarely visited by insects in our climate. 

 On one occasion only I saw a bee visit it, and then 

 the weight of the insect detached the corolla. It is 

 apparently fertilised by a small winged insect : but 



in the absence of any such visitor the anthers dehisce 

 while yet within the hood. Subsequently the hood 

 and platform will fall back of their own weight, and 

 the stamens will be found parallel with the style, or 

 at any intermediate angle. "Whether this or the 

 sudden movement of projection is in any way a 

 provision for self-fertilisation, I am quite unable to 

 determine. The arrangement for cross-fertilisation is 

 clear enough, and, in addition to what has already been 

 said, the style shghtly projects beyond the anthers, 

 so that it would be the first to come in contact with 

 the breast of an insect, or it may be a provision to 

 secure its passing right through the region where the 

 pollen was deposited by a previously visited flower. 



With regard to the release of the tension in the 

 filaments, the structure of the staminodes and the 

 groove should be intimately observed. By causing 

 the groove to be penetrated by a bristle, the two 

 staminodes will be made to diverge, and the style (if 

 the flower is in the right stage of maturity) will slip 

 forward between them. It is quite possible that this 

 may release a tension which allows the stamens to 

 come forward. The two fertile stamens have fila- 

 ments somewhat dilated at the base, so that the space 

 between them is rather narrower than the width of 

 the style. At the base, therefore, the filaments would 

 be held back by the style, and the passing of the 

 style between the staminodes would be followed by a 

 forward movement of the fertile stamens. At any 

 rate, the first effect of passing a bristle into the groove 

 is to cause a rising movement of the style, and this 

 would still more facilitate its contact with the breast 

 of an insect. With regard to the stamens, their 

 filaments are curved back into the hood without any 

 visible means of retention in that position ; but their 

 bases are attached outside to the lower part of the 

 platform, and it is only at that point where they are 

 in contact with the style. I have a theory that at a 

 certain stage the stamens are irritable, like those of 

 Bcrberis, and that the stimulus is imparted by the 

 release of the tension at the base ; but it is a theory, 

 and nothing more. 



Simple and insignificant as this flower may seem, it 

 presents a perfect maze of adaptations, and I should 

 be glad to hear of a more successful effort to unravel 

 it than that presented in this feeble attempt. 



J. Hamson. 



Bedford. 



A DAY AT SELBORNE. 

 By Rev. F. H. Arnold, LL.B. 



THE members of the Emsworth Natural History 

 Society having often expressed their desire to 

 visit the scenes depicted in Gilbert White's classic 

 pages, so dear to all lovers of nature, the ist of June 

 was resolved on as a date when they would probably 

 be seen at their best. A more perfectly lovely and 



