III. 

 The Natural History of the Flower. 



'"PHE past year was one of some interest in connection with this 

 i subject, in that it was the hundredth year since the pubUcation 

 of Christian Conrad Sprengel's book " Das entdeckte Geheimniss der 

 Natur im Bau und in der Befruchtung der Blumen," — " The Secret 

 of Nature revealed in the Formation and FertiHsation of Flowers." 

 Many papers have been written to celebrate the centenary : we may 

 mention those of Knuth, Kirchner and Potonie, and one by the writer 

 (in this Journal for April, 1893). A facsimile reprint of the classic 

 work has also been published by Mayer and Miiller, Berlin (8 marks), 

 and will be found almost indispensable by those who take up this sub- 

 ject. Though it is 100 years since Sprengel started the study of flowers 

 from this point of view, it is only during the last 40 years that any 

 further work has been done, during which time the progress made has 

 been very considerable. Of this work an excellent historical review 

 is contained in the important paper by Macleod (see list), to which 

 we refer later on. It is, unfortunately, in Dutch, but is not difficult 

 to read. 



The number of papers published during the last year is not very 

 great, but many are large and some important. We shall deal in the first 

 place with some of the smaller ones. Baroni has described Rohdea 

 japonica, showing that it is fertilised by snails, insects, and perhaps 

 worms. Briquet, in his monograph of Galeopsis, describes its mechan- 

 isms in detail. In Fyeycinetia Burck discovers the first case of a flower 

 visited by bats. The male and female flowers are on separate plants 

 (dioecious), and have large, bright rose-coloured fleshy bracts. These 

 are visited and eaten by a bat (Pteropus ednlis), which carries the pollen 

 on its head from flower to flower. Miss Keller gives an account of 

 the fertilisation of Monavda JisUdosa, making the remarkable statement 

 that in this conspicuous flower the anthers open in the bud and dis- 

 charge some of their pollen upon the stigmas, which also open. The 

 latter close ; the flower opens and goes through the usual subsequent 

 history, showing the protandry common in the genus. The same flower 

 has also been described by Robertson and by the writer, who have agreed 

 in looking upon it as well adapted to obtain cross-fertilisation by the 

 agency chiefly of butterflies and large bees. Miss Keller's flowers were 

 examined in November, and the lateness of the season may account 

 for the curious results obtained. Kirchner gives an account of various 



