1884.] BE A UTIES OF BRITISH TBEES. 321 



wards towards the corolla ; the tails of the anthers hang towards its 

 base whilst the viscid point is firmly cemented low down on the 

 style. A change in the direction of growth of the filaments then 

 takes place, technically known as ' hyponasty ' — a change similar to 

 that which causes the petals of the Crocus to close towards evening — 

 and they bend inwards towards the style as they lengthen, causing 

 the anthers to revolve through about 120 degrees, on the point 

 cemented to the style, until their tails point towards the mouth of 

 the corolla-tube and their blunt ends are pressed against the style. 

 Then, while the viscid point has separated from the style and 

 disappeared, a thin membrane closing the end of the anther also 

 disappears, so that the pollen is only kept in as long as the point of 

 the anther is against the style. The flowers are pendulous and are 

 much visited by bees, who, hovering beneath them, thrust their 

 proboscis into the bell to gather the honey that clings to the hairs on 

 the filaments. In doing this they must touch some of the twenty 

 tail-like processes which radiate from the style, like spokes to a wheel, 

 and, if they do so, will tear the open mouth of the anther from its 

 contact with that central column, when the pollen will fall down upon 

 the hairy head and back of the intruder, to be carried to the stigma 

 of the next blossom against which it may run its head. This is 

 perhaps the most elaborate process in the order for securing cross- 

 fertilisation, though analogous but simpler methods obtain in the 

 Whortleberries, and the whole group is characterised by the anthers 

 bursting by ' pores ' at the top instead of splitting as usual lengthwise. 



The round berries that succeed these interesting blossoms have a 

 surface projecting in numerous points, more like the fruit known as 

 Litchi than the Strawberry, which it approaches in colour. The ovary 

 being above the calyx it is not technically a berry, but a * nuculane ' 

 or ' uva,' and is divided internally into five chambers, each containing 

 four or five seeds. 



Unfortunately in the colder climate of the northern and eastern 

 parts of our islands the fruit, if formed, is but seldom ripened, and in 

 fact the whole plant is very liable to be cut down by frost ; but 

 where it is indigenous, or naturalised — as at Clifton, where it has 

 grown from self-sown seed for many years — or perfectly at home, the 

 gradual change from green to a rich scarlet with a considerable 

 admixture of orange-yellow renders the tree one of the brightest in 

 general colouring that we have. 



Thrushes and blackbirds are extremely fond of these attractive 

 fruits ; but to our taste they are so insipid as to have earned for the 

 plant the undeservedly opprobrious specific name unedo, ' one I eat,' 

 suggesting that no one would care to eat a second. Nevertheless,, 

 though it is perhaps for its evergreen shade — that Arbutus umbra. 



