INSECT LOVERS. 89 



nation of almost any showy flower will reveal 

 either proterandry or proterogyny. When 

 the anthers are mature they discharge their 

 pollen, either by slits or various kinds of 

 pores ; when the stigmas are fully matured 

 they usually present a peculiar viscid or 

 roughened appearance under a lens. As a 

 well - known example of a proterogynous 

 flower we may take the common figwort or 

 scrophularia, a tall plant, with inconspicuous 

 small flowers, common along banks and in 

 fence-rows. The flowers bear 

 a copious supply of honey ; in 

 fact, the plant is often grown 

 for bees, being sometimes known 

 as Simpson's bee-plant. In Fig. 

 70 is shown a flower as it ap- 

 pears soon after opening, show- 

 ing the ripe pistil and the an- 

 thers curled up and immature. A flower a 

 day or two older would show an over-mature 

 and wilted style but fully developed anthers. 

 If a bee visits Fig. 70 in search of honey it 

 lights upon the deflexed lip of the corolla, 

 and as its body is thrown forwards the 

 stigma rubs off any pollen which may ad- 

 here to the insect's body ; and when it visits 

 an older flower the pregnant anthers give it 



