LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



To appreciate properly the beauty and perfec- 

 tion of this arrangement of the primrose, one has 

 also to consider the tongue or proboscis of the 

 insect that assists in the pollination of the flower. 

 Therefore, in Fig. 6i (Plate 40) I have shown a 

 magnified view of the end portion of the proboscis 

 of the bee. It only needs a glance at this figure 

 to understand how readily this organ can remove 

 the pollen from the stamens midway in the tube 

 as it searches for the nectar, and, on visiting a 

 flower of the " thrum-e3^ed " type, convey such 

 pollen to the stigma there. The proboscis, indeed, 

 acts as a kind of brush sweeping up the pollen 

 within the tube, while the sticky stigma coming in 

 contact with this pollen-laden brush naturally gets 

 well dusted over. Should the insect not visit 

 alternately the two types of flowers, no harm is 

 done ; only more pollen has accumulated for the 

 first alternating form that it eventually reaches. 



It will be understood that the '^ pin-eyed " 

 stigma in the mouth of the tube gets pollinated 

 from the pollen gathered by the base of the pro- 

 boscis, or perhaps the head of the insect. The 

 whole scheme is beautifully and perfectlj^ organ- 

 ised. The butterfly and the nocturnal moth 

 in a like manner uncoil their tongues and search 

 the depths of the tube and perform a service 

 similar to the bee. However, we should not fail 

 to remember that they have no thought of pollin- 

 ating stigmas ; the object of their search is the 

 sweet nectar, and doubtless the stamens, stigmas, 

 and pollen greatly impede their movements, but, 



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