IRRITABLE PARTS OF ILOWERS. 325 



traction of the membrane brings them toge- 

 ther, to scatter their pohen in the centre of 

 the flower. The elastic filaments of Farie- 

 iaria, Engl. Bot. t. 879, tor a while re- 

 strained by the calyx, as those of the lovely 

 Kalmice, Curt. Mag. t, 175, 177, are by 

 the minute pouches in the corolla, relieve 

 themselves by an elastic spring, which in 

 both instances serves to dash the pollen with 

 great force upon the stigma. The same end 

 is accomphshed by the curved germen of 

 Medicago falcata, Engl. Bot. t. 10 iG, re- 

 leasing itself by a spring from the closed 

 keel of the flower. 



But of all flowers that of the Barberry- 

 bush, t. 49, is most worthy the attention ot 

 a curious physiologist. In this the six sta- 

 mens, spreading moderately, are sheltered 

 under the concave tips of the petals, till some 

 extraneous body, as the feet or trunk of an 

 insect in search of honey, touches the inner 

 part of each filament near the bottom. The 

 irritability of that part is such, that the fila- 

 ment immediately contracts there, and con- 

 sequently strikes its anther, full of pollen, 

 against the stigma. Any other part of the 



