93 NEW PUBLZCATfONS, 
sary to try all six kinds of pollen on each stigma. Into the details of 
these experiments we cannot go; we can merely sny that tliey are 
recorded with Mr. Darwin's usual candour, so that the mention of his 
occasional failures and mishaps does hut strengthen our confidence in 
the general results of his labours. From these results we glean the 
following more important facts : — First, that as in structure, so in 
function, there are three female organs; for when all three receive the 
same pollen, they are acted on most diflerently, and conversely the 
same holds good with the three sets of stamens. 
Secondly, otdy the longest stamens fully fertilize the longest pistil, 
the middle stamens the middle pistil, and the shortest stamens the 
shortest pistil. These are the results of what Mr. Darwin calls "legi- 
timate unions,'' of which there are for each pistil two; the other 
possible unions, "illegitimate unions," of which there are four for each 
pistil, are less fruitful, and the greater the inequality in length between 
the pistil and the stamens, the greater the degree of sterility. Now 
the insects carry the right sort of pollen to the right stigmas by reason 
of the structural arrangements before alluded to, but while they thus 
act "as special carriers" of the right kind of pollen, they do also act 
as "general carriers of pollen/' and so the stigmas may become dusted 
over with different sorts of pollen. But the "illeg-itiraate" pollen is 
neutralized by the " legitimate " pollen, even if the latter be not applied 
to the stigma until after the former. Mr, D 
of his own on Primula in proof of this, and also refers to Gartner's 
experiments on the pre-potency of legitimate pollen, in support of his 
opinions. 
The raid-styled form, No. 2, appears to be more feminine in its na- 
ture than the other two; it produces a larger number of seeds ; on the 
other hand, the potency of the two kinds of pollen in this form is less 
than that of the corresponding stamens of the other two forms. 
Furthermore, the green pollen from the long stamens of No. 3, and 
that from the precisely similar stamens of No. 2, althouo-h identical 
rw 
to all appearance, is nevei-theless very different in its action. The same 
remark applies to the pollen from the short stamens of No. 1, and 
that from the corresponding ones of No. 2, so that not only does Zy- 
thrum SuUcaria habitually produce three females differing in structure 
and function, but abo five kinds of pollen differing in a marked man- 
ner in potency. 
