222 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



the favorite guests. The stamens of the bouncing 

 Bet are ten in number. Soon after the flower 

 opens five of them thrust their heads out of the 

 tube, and their anthers ripen and split. When 

 they have shed their pollen, the other five emerge, 

 mature, and open. 



All this time the young pistil lies concealed in 

 the flower-tube, but, after the second quintette of 

 stamens have given away most of their store, it 

 comes out of its seclusion, and the two long stig- 

 mas expand themselves. The butterfly guests by 

 day and the moth visitors by night carry pollen 

 from the stamens of younger flowers to the pistils 

 of older ones. 



Many members of the pink family, to which 

 "bouncing Bet" belongs, have formed the habit of 

 ripening two successive quintettes of stamens, and, 

 last of all, the pistil. This arrangement makes 

 sure that the flower will set seed only by aid of 

 pollen brought from another, and that its seeds (if 

 they are formed) will be endowed with great vital- 

 ity. But the family is placed entirely at the mercy 

 of flying insects, for without their ministrations 

 no seed can be set at all. So the whole future of 

 such flower families depends upon the success with 

 which its members entice their winged friends. 



