320 FUNCTIONS OF* 



The Viola tricolor or Pansy, the Gratiola. 

 the MartymG) and many plants besides, have 

 been observed to be furnished with a stigma 

 gaping only at the time the pollen is ripe. 

 The beautiful Jacobean Lity, Amaryllis 

 formosissima, Curt. Mag. i. 47? is justly de- 

 scribed by Linnaeus as provided with a drop 

 of clear liquid, winch protrudes every morn- 

 ing from the stigma, and about noon seems 

 almost ready to fall to the ground. It is 

 however reabsorbed in the afternoon, having 

 received the pollen whose vapour renders it 

 turbid, and whose minute husks afterwards 

 remain upon the stigma. The same phamo-r 

 menon takes place several successive days. 



In opposition to similar facts, proving the 

 synchronous operation of these organs, Ponte- 

 dera has, with more observation than usual, 

 remarked that in the umbelliferous tribe the 

 style frequently does not appear till the an- 

 thers are fallen. But he ought to have per- 

 ceived tbat the stigma is previously perfected, 

 and that the style seems to grow out after- 

 wards, in a recurved and divaricated form, 

 for the purpose of providing hooks to the 

 seeds. It is al^o observable that in this fa- 

 mily the several .organs are sometimes brought 



