196 LINARIA CYMBALARIA. 



sion. He does, however, refer to Linaria vulgaris^ the common 

 yellow Toad-Flax, a larger and more showy plant than the one 

 now under consideration. He writes : — " Its flowers form a closed 

 box, terminating behind in a spur ten to thirteen millimetres in 

 length, which contains the honey, and the orifice of which is pro- 

 tected by hairs. Under these circumstances, the long-lipped bees 

 are the only insects which can suck the honey." He further 

 writes: — "The Snapdragon differs in the larger size of the flowers, 

 the greater firmness with which they are closed, and in the posi- 

 tion of the honey, which lies at the basis of the corolla, and does 

 not penetrate into the short spur, which is hairy, and therefore not 

 suited for such a purpose. They are almost always fertilised by 

 humble bees, though smaller bees occasionally force their way into 

 them." 



From Sir John Lubbock we learn that many of our wild 

 flowers are proterandrous (the anthers shed their pollen before the 

 stigmatic surfaces of the pistils have matured). Others are pro- 

 terogynous, the pistils having matured before the anthers have 

 ripened. Such flowers entirely depend upon the visits of insects 

 to fertilise them. The ripe pollen of the one flower Diust be 

 carried to the mature stigma of the other, and failing this the 

 plants will become extinct. It frequently happens, however, that 

 the flowers are hermaphrodite, a portion of the stamens ri]jening 

 before the stigma, but the remainder ripening concurrently with it, 

 so that such flowers are first exclusively male, then male and 

 female. Or, the pistil may mature before the stamens,, when the 

 flowers will at first be exclusively female, but as the stigmatic 

 surface of the pistil retains its ripened character until the stamens 

 shed their pollen, these flowers also become hermaphrodite. It 

 may be, of course, that insect agency is at work even here, but 

 were it otherwise, there is an abundant means for self-fertilisation. 

 The general principle laid down by Sir John Lubbock with 

 reference to the fertilisation of flowers is, that large, bright- 

 coloured, sweetly-scented, honey-yielding blossoms are largely fer- 

 tilised, and the species preserved by the visits of insects attracted 

 to them ; while, on the other hand, small, scentless, honeyless 

 flowers are less dependent upon bees and other insects because 

 they possess ample means for self-fertilisation. Now, the Liuaria 



