FLORAL MECHANISMS 113 



grance, arrives and reaching down for nectar dis- 

 turbs the arrangement of the stamens. A little 

 touch will derange the equilibrium and one or sev- 

 eral anthers will be released from their pockets ; 

 they will fly up with a quick snap, and their pollen 

 will be thrown up forcibly against the moth's body 

 and cling to his woolly covering. And it should 

 be noticed that if the moth brings pollen from 

 another flower he is likely to leave some on the 

 prominent stigma, while his body, at the moment 

 of the explosion, acts as a bulwark to protect the 

 pistil from the discharge of the numerous little 

 catapults he has set in action. No more perfect 

 mechanism could be devised, but the wonder of it 

 is that it can exist in such frail and diaphanous 

 material, and that it can come into existence within 

 a bud, its complex parts first folded and dis- 

 torted, but sure to unfold, adjust themselves 

 with precision, and work unerringly at the slightest 

 touch. 



With the mountain laurel blossoms we can play 

 the moth. Making believe that a pin is our 

 proboscis, we can loosen the anthers from their 

 places in the little pockets and discharge a whole 

 broadside of these weapons and see a cloud of flying 

 projectiles. 



Should we catch some of the pollen and ex- 



