50 THE NATURE-STUDY, OF PLANTS 
had . . . . 
with them, either consciously or unconsciously, various 
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Fic. 15.—Flowering sprig 
of the Hazel. 
A, The pistil-bearing flowers; 
LB, A leaf-bud. In this sprig 
the pistils matured before the 
stamens in the catkins had 
liberated the pollen grains. 
Reduced 4. 

objects, both comparatively 
large and actually very small. 
As far as pollination goes 
these three agents are valuable 
in different degrees. 
The wind acts for quantities 
of plants with inconspicuous 
small and scentless flowers, and 
it is, I need hardly add, an 
agent for cross-pollination. 
We may ignore water alto- 
gether, although there are a 
few plants dependent upon its 
currents for cross-pollination ; 
they are not, however, likely to 
come before the notice of any 
one who is not a professional or 
a more or less mad enthusiast. 
As for the animal world, the 
chief pollination agents are such 
insects as Bees, Flies, Butter- 
flies, Moths, and Beetles, and 
they, too, are essentially cross- 
pollinators. 
(b) Cross-pollination by the 
Wind 
Our Grasses are the most 
abundant of our wind-pollin- 
ated plants, and no one will 
deny that their flowers are both 
small and inconspicuous. The pollen grains, which 
can easily be shaken out of the dangling anthers, are 
