THE VICTORIAN NATJRALIST. 131 



humble bees to alight on. On either side of the entrance to the 

 back part of the flower, in which the honey is hidden, is a stamen, 

 composed of a short, erect, firm, and immobile filament and an 

 anther borne at the extremity of a much elongated and sHghtly 

 curved connective which rocks at the top of the filament. This 

 part of the stamen, which is liable to be set rocking, is a curved 

 lever, consisting of two arms of unequal length. When a humble 

 bee pushes the lower arm, which is the shorter one, in the 

 direction towards the interior of the flower, the upper arm drops 

 and the anthers fall upon the insect's back, which is consequently 

 covered with pollen. The bees laden in this manner rub the 

 pollen off on to the deflexed stigmas of the flowers they sub- 

 sequently visit. 



The number of contrivances by means of which pollen is 

 distributed by insects is very large, and I must therefore confine 

 myself to an account of the most curious forms. It remains still 

 to speak about the apparatus of the explosive variety, which is 

 adapted to besprinkle insects with pollen. 



In the case of Crucianella stylosa, which flowers are con- 

 glomerated in terminal heads, the style is twisted into a spiral, 

 and the thick stigma at the top of it is wedged between the 

 anthers. The moment the anthers open the pollen pours out 

 and rests upon the papillose surface of the stigma. Soon after- 

 wards the style elongates, with its coating of pollen, until it comes 

 against the dome-shaped top of the closed corolla, where its 

 further ascent is stopped. At this stage of development the 

 style is in a condition of such extreme tension that when 

 the limb of the corolla opens it springs up, scattering a 

 cloud of pollen from the surface of the stigma. A sudden 

 opening of the corolla can be caused if a small bee or 

 fly chances to touch the top of a closed flower on its way 

 to visit an open one, and involuntarfly the insect is then 

 dusted with pollen from below — a state of affairs not always 

 agreeable to them. At the same time it cannot be very dis- 

 agreeable, for the animals may be seen, immediately after flying 

 off the pollen-strewing flowers as if frightened, visiting flowers 

 of the same species in the next moment, where they will 

 experience the same treatment. It would indeed be strange if 

 the same flowers should on the one hand have such contrivances 

 as will allure insects in order that they may transfer the pollen 

 from plant to plant, and on the other hand be so arranged as to 

 shock these laden and attracted guests, and disincline them to 

 further visits. Such a contradiction never does occur in the 

 flower world, but all the contrivances connected with the trans- 

 ference of pollen display a harmony which fills those who busy 

 themselves with these phenomena with astonishment and 

 admiration. 



