REMARKS ON SOME DIOICIOUS PLANTS. 233 
tinued for a month, when females began to appear; but it is clear, 
that if all the males had died off before the females were produced, 
no seed could be brought into existence; on the contrary, when all the 
males had died and dropped away, and females only were on the 
plant, all the ovules were fertilized without exception. How was 
this effected? Was parthenogenesis at work here? Not so; the 
original males, long since dead, caused the fertilization. But how, 
if the males were dying off when the females were only in bud? 
By this simple contrivance of Nature: — When the male flowers 
had attained maturity, and were shedding their pollen, the female 
buds appeared below, with their stigmas hanging out of the buds, 
so that there. was a very good chance of all the females being fer- 
tilized, although only in bud. Nor was this all, for I believe in this 
plant, as in nearly all others, insects are designed to play their parts. 
At first sight, it is not clear how insects could help this plant, but I 
will explain. In the first place, the crimson colour of the petals of the 
male flower must be attractive to insects. Suppose an insect has got 
the pollen from the male on to his head, legs, etc., and the crimson 
petals of the female have not yet appeared, what is there to attract him 
in turn to the female? Simply this; whilst the male has got a calyx 
barely marked with red lines, the calyx of the female bud is much 
more crimson and attractive; so that, whilst an insect is attracted by 
the crimson of the petals of the male, it is in turn attracted by the 
crimson of the calyx of the female, and if the insect alights at all he 
must go at once on to the stigmas, and so Nature’s object is effected. 
^— When one observes in the vegetable kingdom the various forms of 
plants, some dioicious, some partially so, some hermaphrodite, and others 
seldom or only under peculiar circumstances ripening their fruit, the 
question suggests itself as to whether all plants are not gradually chan- 
ging from one state to another. Iam borne out in this hypothesis by 
Mr. Darwin, who remarks that Primula is probably gradually becoming 
dioicious from the hermaphrodite condition. Or, whilst one set of 
organs are being suppressed, the complementary set are being more 
fully developed. I believe this to be probable, and supported by many 
facts in both the animal and vegetable kingdoms. If we take the 
animal kingdom, we find a limited number of creatures unquestionably 
hermaphrodite, but of a very low order; but if we call all the crea- 
tures possessing separate sexes dioicious, we then come at once to a 
