1 66 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



And the pistil is especially fitted to catch the 

 precious dust as it flies. 



The stigma is proportionately long and large, 

 and forks into two parts. 



These spread widely asunder, as if welcoming 

 the pollen with open arms; and they are hairy and 

 somewhat glutinous, so that the golden grains 

 which come to them may catch and cling. 



But in the anatomy of grasses and of oats, 

 among the rest we find hints that the cooperation 

 between them and the wind has not always been 

 so perfect as it is to-day. 



For the flowers still have vestiges of petals, and 

 hence we surmise that once upon a time they 

 lured insects, and were fertilized by them. 



When the wind became the pollen carrier for 

 the grass - blossoms, their petals were no longer 

 needed as insect lures. So they grew "small by 

 degrees and beautifully less." 



Some grasses have thre'e of these moementoes of 

 bygone glories, others have only two (Fig. 41). 

 They are minute affairs, transparent or translu- 

 cent, and very pretty under a low - power micro- 

 scope even in their present degradation. When 

 the stamens and pistil are matured these reminis- 

 cences of petals become succulent, and thus force 



