XEW PUBLICATIONS. 97 
,g and extending ]\[r. Darwin 
observations. 
"\Ye have now before us, from Mr. Darwin's own pen, tlie results of 
his researclies into the sexual nature of Lytliriim Sallcariay and tliese 
results are more curious and important than any previously published. 
The details are numerous and somewhat complicated, hence we pro- 
pose merely to lay before our readers the main facts of the case, refer- 
ring them to the original paper for more copious information. 
Li/lhrum Salicaria is, as to its stamens and pistil, trimorphic; 
three fortns of flower are found on different individual plants. These 
three forms may be grouped as follows : — 
1. Long-styled form has six medium stamens and six short stamens. 
2. Mid-styled form has six long stamens and six short stamens. 
3. Short-styled ^orm has six long stamens and six medium stamens*, 
In all these instances, the long stamens correspond in length with 
the long style, the medium stamens with the medium style, and so on. 
Each individual flower therefore has a style, — long, medium, or short, 
as the case may be, and two out of the three sets of stamens which are 
above-mentioned. 
In addition to these differences in length, there are other differences 
in the direction of the styles and stamens, in the size of the stigmas, 
the colour of the filaments and of the polleu, as well as in the number 
and weight of the seeds. 
Mr. Darwin tells us that all these arrangements have reference to 
the comparative facility or difficulty experienced by insects in visiting 
the flowers, and he has endeavoured to work out for himself what 
nature effects by the agency of bees and other insects. Some idea 
may be obtained of the labour and patience involved in this undertaking 
from the fact that it was necessary to bring about eigliteen distinct 
unions, fertilizing more than a dozen flowers on tlie average in the 
eighteen different methods; thus the long-styled form (No. ]) had to 
be fertilized with pollen from its own two distinct kinds of anthers; 
from the two sorts of anthers in the mid-styled form (No. 2), and 
from the two in the short-styled form (No. 3) ; the same process had 
to be repeated with Nos. 2 and 3. It might have been tliought suffi- 
cient to have tried on each stigma the pollen from one set of long, or 
medium, or short stamens, and not from both sets, but the results 
proved that this would have been insufficient, and that it was neces* 
