132 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



pistil, unripe and closed, elongates and 

 pushes this pollen outward so that it 

 may be gathered by the passing bee. 

 When the pollen has been taken, the 

 pistil develops, the stigma opens and 

 soon is sure to be fertilized by pollen 

 from another flower. 



The lower florets in the flower head 

 develop first, and shed their pollen in 

 a golden ring. Each day this ring 

 mounts higher and higher, followed by 

 another darker ring of protruding pis- 

 tils. A bee, coming with a charge of 

 pollen from another black-eyed Susan, 

 and crawling upward over this flower 

 head, as is his habit, fertilizes the ex- 

 posed stigma, gets a new charge of pol- 

 len and flies away from the unopened 

 buds at the top, to begin the process 

 again at another flower. He can thus 

 visit hundreds of florets in a short time, 

 getting honey and giving fertility to 

 the embryo seeds as he goes. 



The next sketch shows sections of 

 three florets plucked from a thistle. 

 These florets show, first, how the sta- 

 mens unite into a tube to hold the pol- 

 len ; second, how the pollen is pushed 

 out by the growing pistil, and third, 

 how the pistil protrudes after the pol- 

 len is shed. Here the stigma does not 

 divide, but becomes adhesive and sen- 

 sitive to the magic of the pollen. 



The bellflower, though unrelated to 

 the Compositae, presents an interesting 

 variation in the scheme above describ- 

 ed. The larger sketch represents a 

 spire of these charming blossoms, with 

 buds above, and flowers more and more 

 advanced below. 



In the section of a bud the tubular 

 stamens are discharging pollen about a 

 central pisil. In the next below, in 

 a bud about to open, the stamens are 

 separating, and curling backward, leav- 

 ing a column of pollen adherent about 

 the pistil. In the flower below this, 

 -the pollen mass is still in place, like a 

 candle around its wick, and lastly, in 

 the lowest, the pollen is all gone, hav- 

 ing been borne away by insect visitors, 

 and the tip of the pistil has separated 

 into a five pointed stigma. 



The second sketch shows the sta- 

 mens and pistils, apart from the flower, 

 in their various stages of progress. 

 With this mechanism complete, self- 



fertilization cannot take place, anti 

 cross-fertilization is made certain. 



. "^" r 



STAMENS AND PISTILS OF BELLFLOWER. 



Pheasants as Insect Destroyers. 



It is interesting to note the investi- 

 gations that are being made by the 

 commissioners of different states as to 

 the habits of the ring-necked pheasant, 

 with special reference to damage alleg- 

 ed to have been caused by it to crops, 

 and further to determine whether this 

 species is a destroyer of the brown- 

 tail and gypsy moths. It has found 

 in many instances that the birds ate 

 freely of gypsy and brown-tail moths, 

 and that in other places families had 

 been rid of the pest of bugs on squash 

 vines and plants through the birds. 

 While doing this useful work, it is 

 stated that they did not injure market- 

 able truck. — N. H. Fish and Game. 



For, to come into close touch with 

 the very life of birds in field and forest, 

 beside the myriad delights it gradually 

 unfolds to the eye and ear and under- 

 standing out of one bright kingdom of 

 earth, means also to feel the quickening 

 thrill of all nature under heaven's great 

 dome ; so intimately is every other 

 realm related to this, and so sensitive 

 and subtle are the ties by which we our- 

 selves have been joined to all created 

 things from the beginning. — Augustus 

 Wright Bomberger in "A Book On 

 Birds." 



Perennial Nature's welcome. 



Her latchstring always out; 

 Do not neglect her primrose paths, 



While tasks you go about. 



— Emma Peirce. 



