38 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



anthers are creamy-yellow, and cluster close 

 against the long style, shedding their pollen out- 

 ward. They invite the nocturnal insects, as is 

 shown both by the lack of colour and their habit 

 of closing at the kiss of the sun. The long pistil 

 is sure to receive whatever pollen its visitor may 

 bring. It is visited by the Sphynx moths. 



.We have described enough of these regular, wide- 

 open flowers. These, and many more like them, 



might easily receive 

 their own pollen on 

 their stigmas, a thing 

 which doubtless often 

 occurs. Must we, 

 then, believe that 

 these flowers do not 

 require cross-fertili- 

 sation? Can they 

 flourish and survive 

 in defiance of the 

 great law which re- 

 quires occasional 

 mixing of hereditary strains? 



They have no structural nor mechanical con- 

 trivances, as some other flowers have, but there is 

 a "saving clause" in the law of heredity which pro- 



CONVOLVULUS 



