332 DARWINIANISM. 



He is particularly interesting in the cases he brings 

 forward of the various contrivances, in untoward circum- 

 stances, for securing the fecundation of the plant. " In 

 the flower of the Nigella," he says, "the tall females 

 bend down to their dwarf husbands," as in Collin- 

 sonia the pistil stoops to each of the two undersized 

 stamens alternately, while that of the Epilobium creeps 

 down to the males, and spends several days among them. 

 In the common Broom the pistil curves itself round like 

 a French horn to the stamens below it. The pistil is 

 longer than the stamens in the American Cowslip also ; 

 hence the flower-stalks have their elegant bend that 

 the stigma may hang downwards to receive the pollen of 

 the anthers ; the petals being so beautifully turned back, 

 too, to prevent the rain or dewdrops from sliding down 

 to the pollen, at the same time that they are erected 

 again as soon as the seeds are formed, to prevent them 

 from falling out. In the Hemerocallis flava the long 

 pistil is often somewhat like the capital letter N in 

 order to shorten it ; and so it is seen to be on its knees 

 to the stamens. The Vallisneria is an aquatic plant, and 

 its flowers are above water so far as the female is con- 

 cerned, but the males are fixed to the bottom by short 

 stems. When fecundation is to take place, however, the 

 males actually detach themselves, rise to the surface, and 

 float to the females. 



On the part of Dr. Erasmus also we have various very 

 peculiar plants instanced, which it would certainly tax 

 ingenuity to tell a story to explain. There are the 

 Noctiflora, for example; one of which, the Cereus, 

 expands a most exquisitely beautiful flower, and emits a 

 most fragrant odour for a few hours in the night, and 

 then closes to open no more. Similarly the flowers of 

 the Hibiscus trionum continue but a single hour. Not 

 to speak of Zostera that must rise from the bottom of 



