KIDNEY VETCH 23 



the long claws or stalks, the standard projecting 5-7 mm., and inclined 

 upwards, with a groove on the lower part of the blade for the alse or 

 wings, with two rounded lobes at its base. The wings or alse are, 

 moreover, quite surrounded by the vexillum or standard. 



Insects grasp the alae and insert their proboscis under the vexillum 

 or standard. The alae surround the carina or keel, and it is forced 

 clown when the former are depressed. Each ala has a deep groove at 

 its base, and the carina has a sharp knob fitting into this groove. 



KIDNEY VETCH (Anthyllis Vulneraria, L.) 



The upper margins of the alse are unfolded, wnence they remain close 

 together. By this means the parts return to their place after the insect 

 presses on them, causing pollen to be pressed into the slit, formed by 

 the alar margins, by the thickened end of the stamens, the stigma re- 

 maining free from it; but if rubbed it becomes sticky and the pollen 

 adheres. Hence insect visits favour cross-pollination. The pollen- 

 grains are short, six-sided prisms with striated angles. The visitors 

 are Bombus silvarum, B. hortorum, B. imiscorum, Osinia, Lyc&na. 



The pod, enclosed by the dry, swollen calyx, is sometimes dehiscent, 

 splitting open, and if the calyx persists the seed may be thrown to 

 some distance by contraction of the pod. 



