HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



77 



the simple contrivance of making them confine their 

 foraging operations on each journey to similar plants, 

 which of course assists fertilisation. It is as simple 

 as hunting for a book in a well-arranged library. 

 On May 5th, 1881, the actual process was witnessed, 

 for the first time, with extreme satisfaction ; and also 

 again in April last year. 



It is quite impossible to discuss the probable end 

 of the orchis in creation without glancing at the 

 question of fertilisation. At first it seems very 

 simple, if necessary, but as one proceeds, and the 

 question breaks away, it becomes not only necessary 

 but highly complicated. Few flowers are able to 



pistil, so that the vivifying fluid may pass to the 

 ovules. The inanimate agency of the wind is em- 

 ployed for those trees which flower before insects are 

 about, but the most effective plan is to utilise the 

 services of insects and especially bees, and so largely 

 is this done, that one is lost in amazement at the 

 wonderful facility in developing an idea, because by 

 this means there is such a clear gain in good, 

 expansion and variety, and high design. And when 

 it is ascertained that this is in necessary subordination 

 to the facts of creation, then a whole panorama of 

 Divine resource, power, wisdom, and forethought 

 sweeps before us. It is then that Mary Howitt's 



Fig. 53. — Pollinium, showing pollen-mass 

 (/), filament (/), viscid disc'(rf), and 

 pollen-grains detached (,f). Magnified 

 with i in. power. 



fertilise themselves, and without fertilisation no seed 

 is set ; this is a law which cannot be broken, and it is 

 curious to watch the shifts and penalties flowers are 

 put to, in order to prevent self-fertilisation ; for 

 although the stamens may be close to the pistil, as in 

 the buttercup, there is generally some hindrance 

 which renders it impossible. The banns are pro- 

 hibited as rigidly as in the Prayer Book, and thus the 

 brilliant hues, streaks and channels, as everybody 

 now knows, are accounted for. The small globules 

 of pollen must shed their subtle influence on the 



ztmw 



Fig. 54-— Papillae, from inner surface of nectary. Magnified with i in. power. 



lines reveal their true meaning. In connection with 

 fertilisation, the colour of flowers comes in. It 

 seems that flowers were created before bees, but that 

 bees have highly modified flowers. If Mr. Grant 

 Allen's theory about yellow preceding white, white 

 red, and red blue in floral colouring, can be trusted, 

 then the colour of the common orchis shows the 

 class of insects for which it is intended. But why 

 isn't it blue ? Wait a minute. Perhaps, instead of 

 being a useless flower, it may be found to serve a 

 double purpose. 



To attract bees, flowers supply various condiments, 

 of which pollen for bee-bread is the most abundant, 

 and this is found chiefly in spring flowers, but the orchis 

 supplies none. Next in importance is honey, which 

 summer flowers produce ; but the orchis supplies 

 none, or at any rate so little, that Sprengel called the 

 order Scheitisaft-B 'lumen, sham honey flowers. Lastly 

 propolis is required, a sticky resinous fluid for fixing 

 the combs and caulking the seams of hives ; and this 

 I believe the orchis provides. Now, at last, the object 

 of the plant is discovered, and notice how this fits in 

 with the whole economy of the plant. Bumble-bees, 

 for whose especial benefit the orchis seems to exist, 

 want less propolis than hive-bees, as they are not so 

 abundant, and therefore the plant that supplies them 

 need not be too common. Clover cannot thrive with- 

 out bumble-bees, nor bumble-bees without cats. Can 

 the common orchis thrive without spots ? The various 

 methods to check abundance and yet ensure supply 

 have been noticed, and now the intricate machinery 



