Pollination and Fej'tilization 135 



Grasses have kept the old-time habit. Their long filaments 

 hang out the swinging anthers to the breeze and the feathery 

 stigmas catch the pollen as it passes. Willows, poplars, and 

 oaks have a very ancient history. Their flowers are not 

 showy. Do you find bees visiting them? Does a bee pass 

 from the catkins of an oak to the acorns, or is it simply in 

 quest of pollen ? From what flowers is honey made in your 

 district ? Do butterflies have their favourite colours ? Do 

 you know any regular flowers with guiding lines on their petals ? 

 Recall Moiitinia and Clifforfia. Are they pollinated by the 

 same agency ? 



Since so much has been learned about flowers and their 

 insect guests, it has been asked whether flowers were designed to 

 attract insects or whether insects, by visiting flowers, have given 

 them their markings where they have come in contact with 

 them, and made them irregular by always lighting on the same 

 spot. We can tell what was in the past only by thinking 

 about what we see now. At least, we feel sure, from fossil 

 plants and insects, that there were no showy flowers until bees 

 and butterflies had been created to gather honey. 



Dr. Kolbe was one morning the uninvited guest at a sugar- 

 bird's breakfast. We will " let him tell in his own words " his 

 thoughts on that occasion. 



The Gladiolus and the Sugar-bird. 



Some time ago I was reading " The Making of Flowers," 

 by the Rev. Prof. G. Henslow (" Romance of Science Series," 

 S.P.C.K.), in which he explains the forms and markings of 

 flowers as a result of plant responsiveness to the mechanical 

 stimulus of insects in search of honey. The theory was 

 particularly attractive to me : it seemed to explain so much. 

 Thus thinking, I noted one day how a lot of Gladioli in a 

 garden had deep markings at the hack^ just where the perianth 

 lobes begin to separate, but where they still overlap one 

 another. No insect, I said, would be such a fool as to go 

 prodding at the back when so wide a front door was provided. 

 I had plenty of time to theorize. It was holiday time in 



