FLORAL DIPLOMACY. 



87 



Fig. 35. — {a) Flower of Frog's-mouth ; 

 (J)) Flower of FigAvort or Scrophularin, 

 fertilised chiefly by wasps. 



for coming down just on that part of the insect's 

 back which would be 

 touched by a ripe pistil, 

 must be examined in the 

 Salvias^ etc., to be ad- 

 mired as it deserves. And 

 the discovery that the 

 pistil is cleft into two 

 stigmatic surfaces, which 

 are carefully kept together 

 until the pollen in the 

 same flower is all dis- 

 charged, before they can open and expand with- 

 out fear of self-fertilisation, will not detract from our 



admiration of the device. 

 The plan of keeping the 

 cleft stigmatic surfaces of 

 the pistil together is one 

 common to many other 

 orders, although perhaps 

 best seen in the Saxifrages 

 and many of the Compositae. 

 The floral machinery 

 of the Orchids is well 

 known since the publica- 

 tion of Darwin's celebrated 

 book on those plants. I refer my readers to that 

 wonderful work for proofs of the high floral sagacity 

 these flowers have developed. The devices of 



Fig. 36.— Orchid flower. 



