Introductory 



family should contrive to reach the moist 

 disk or stigma of that same flower, the 

 chances are that either the little grains 

 would fail to act at all upon the ovules, 

 or that the resultant seeds would lack the 

 vigor so necessary to their survival of the 

 fierce combat in which they are destined 

 to engage. So we observe that the dif- 

 ferent organs are often so placed that the 

 pollen cannot reach the stigma of its own 

 flower ; and in the orchids especially we 

 find that the most elaborate devices are 

 resorted to in order to attract insect visi- 

 tors, and to insure the lodgement of the 

 pollen in the right spot. After twenty 

 years of study of the subject, Darwin 

 doubted if he thoroughly understood the 

 contrivances in a single orchid ; so it is 

 not to be wondered that these flowers, 

 even the most inconspicuous among them, 

 invariably awaken eager interest in the 

 student of plant life. 



" I hke flowers, but I hate to pull 



