124 THE STORY OF THE PLANTS. 



a bright yellow spike in its midst, and if you look 

 at it closely you will see that this spike consists 

 entirely of a great cluster of stamens, thickly 

 massed together. The top of the spike is en- 

 tirely composed of such golden stamens, but lower 

 down you will find ovaries embedded here and 

 there among them, each ovary as a rule sur- 

 rounded by five or six stamens. Lastly, in the 

 cuckoo-pint the lower flowers have lost their com- 

 plement of stamens altogether, while the upper 

 ones have similarly lost their ovaries ; moreover, 

 a few of the topmost have been converted into 

 the curious lobster-pot hairs which assist, as I 

 have shown you, in the work of fertilisation. 

 We have here a singular and instructive exam- 

 ple of what may be described as i-etrograde develop- 

 ment. 



And now we must go on to those modes of 

 fertilisation which are effected by agencies other 

 than insects. 



CHAPTER IX. 



THE WIND AS CARRIER. 



All flowers do not depend for fertilisation 

 upon insects. In many plants it is the wind that 

 serves the purpose of common carrier of pollen 

 from blossom to blossom. 



Clearly, flowers which lay themselves out to 

 be fertilised by the wind will not be likely to pro- 

 duce the same devices as those which lay them- 

 selves out to be fertilised by insects. Natural 

 selection here will favour different qualities. 

 Bright-coloured petals and stores of honey will 



