366 Mr John Wilson on the Adaptation of 



slit is left at the mid point. The margins bounding the 

 slit or space are delicate and recurved. The inner seg- 

 ments seen from without are truncated, and have a slight 

 terminal mesial indentation; viewed from within, each of 

 the swollen, cucullate apices is seen to be prolonged down- 

 ward into a hook-like process, along the outside of which 

 is an area bearing golden papillae (Plate XII. fig. 3, is.). 

 The hooks fit neatly into depressions in the stigmatic sur- 

 face, but do not adhere thereto. The three outer stamens 

 (Plate XII. figs. 2, 3, ost.) are erect, immovable, shorter 

 than the inner stamens. They are more or less aborted; 

 some having pollen, others not. They stand opposite the 

 slits existing between the inner segments, and where the 

 slits are wide the upper portion of the stamens may pro- 

 trude. The inner stamens are invariably functional. They 

 follow, in part, the curvature of the inner segments, in the 

 hollow of which they lie (Plate XII. figs. 3, 4, ist.). The 

 upper part of the filament is broad and strap-like, widen- 

 ing out, and narrowing again a little distance beneath the 

 anther. The basal portion of the filament is very broad, 

 and immediately above this a twisting and puckering takes 

 Xjlace, giving rise to a kind of spring (Plate XII. fig. 4, S2Jr.), 

 possessing considerable elasticity, and tending to cause the 

 part of the filament above it to move outward. Thus, when 

 an inner segment is pushed backward, the stamen opposite 

 follows it until the limit of elasticity is reached, at about 

 an angle of 45^ with the axis of the flower. If not pushed 

 too far, the inner segment reassumes its former position when 

 the pressure is removed. The inner stamens can be pushed 

 backwards as a whole, a hinge-like movement taking place 

 with great readiness at their insertion. This must be done 

 if it is desired to expose the septal glands which lie at the 

 base of the ovary (Plate XII. fig. 5, gl.). These glands 

 are hidden by the broadened basal parts of the filaments. 

 The style is prismatic and massive. The stigma is covered 

 with yellow papillae, resembling those on the perianth 

 segments, but longer. There may or may not be a tri- 

 radiate or columnar, papillose, axial boss rising above the 

 common stigmatic surface ('PlateXII. figs. 5, 6, pr.)^ and 

 passing outward between the deflexed portions of the inner 

 perianth segments. At an early period of development, 

 the inner stamens are held by the cucullate apices of the 



