244 ruNCTioNs or 



the time the pollen is ripe. The beautiful Jacobaean 

 Lily, AmanjUis fonnosissima, Curt. Mag. t. 47, is 

 justly described by Linnseus as provided ^vith a drop 

 of clear liquid, which protrudes every morning from 

 the stigma, and about noon seems almost ready to fall 

 to the ground. It is however reabsorbed in the after- 

 noon, having received the pollen whose vapour renders 

 it turbid, and whose Ufinute husks afterwards remain 

 upon the stigma. The same pha^nomenon takes 

 place several successive days. 



In opposition to similar facts, proving the synchro- 

 nous operation of these organs, Pontedera has, with 

 more observation than usual, remarked that in the 

 umbelliferous tribe the style frequently does not ap- 

 pear till the anthers are fallen. But he ought to have 

 perceived that the stigma is previously periected, and 

 that the style grows out afterwards, in a recurved and 

 divaricated form, for the purpose of providing hooks 

 to the seeds. ' It is also observable that in this family 

 the several organs are sometimes brought to perfection 

 in different flowers at different times, so that the an- 

 thers of one may impregnate the stigmas of another 

 whose stamens were abortive, or long since withered. 

 The same thing happens in other instances. Linneeus 

 mentions the Jaty^opha urens as producing flowers 

 with staniens some weeks in general befbre or after 

 the others. Hence he obtained no seed, till he pre- 

 served the pollen for a month or more in paper, and 

 scattered it on a few stigmas then in pefection. There 



