THE SPEEDWELLS 159 
do all it can to fertilise the embryo seeds waiting for the 
pollen-tubes down below. 
The Mulleins are handsome relatives also, much the 
same in fashion as the Foxglove, but with more downy 
leaves, and the yellow flowers are set round the spike on 
all sides, instead of on one only. So far as the “tube” is 
concerned, they follow the Speedwell example, and reduce 
it to a short rmg. One curious feature about their spike 
of flowers, of which I can give you no explanation, is 
that the separate flowers do not seem to open by any 
ordered rule, but the buds first expand at any part of the 
spike, though generally about the middle. The Mulleins 
are peculiar among the Speedwell order for the develop- 
ment of all five perfect stamens. The Foxglove has only 
four, and the Germander Speedwell, in a fit of economy, 
has reduced them to two. 
Besides the spreading flower of the Mullein and the 
open bell of the Foxglove, we have in this order the | 
quaint Snapdragons and Toadflax, in which the mouth 
of the bell is shut by the expansion of the free ends of 
the lips. This preserves the pollen admirably from rain, 
and also from the visits of insects that might be content 
to take the honey, but whose shape did not make them 
useful for knocking the pollen from off the anthers. On 
the other hand the larger insects, such as bees, whose help 
they do require, can force their way down through the 
narrow slit. . 
I am sorry to say (for the Speedwells are a favourite 
tribe of mine) that several of the tribe do not live on 
their own resources entirely, but “convey” nourishment 
from the roots of other plants. They have a vigorous 
life of their own, green leaves and the usual chlorophyll 
machinery, but it has been proved that they prey upon 
