Primrose and Pimpernel 225 
glands, but the ovary and base of the style secrete 
drops of liquid, which appear to be accepted as a 
good substitute. If cross-fertilisation does not take 
place before the anthers discharge their pollen, 
there is a possibility of self-fertilisation; but this, I 
think, is only likely to come about through insect- 
Section of flower Natural position 
Glaux 
agency. The Rev. Geo. Henslow has figured the 
style as curving into a note of interrogation in order 
to bring the stigma against an open anther, but I 
believe this was an exceptional example, as in a 
search extending over four seasons, during which I 
have examined many hundreds of plants, I have never 
found a specimen hke it. 
Somewhat similar are the arrangements of the 
Pimpernel, or Poor Man’s Weather-glass (Anagallis 
arvensis), which has a scarlet corolla. The stamens 
are attached to the base of the corolla, but the style 
is only of such length as brings the stigma on a 
level with the anthers; these in the open flower 
stand far away from it, so that there shall be no 
contact, and the style bends between the stamens 
towards the lower side of the flower, so that it would 
