26 THE PLANT -WORLD IN MARCH. 



reverential wonder. Our appreciation of the beauty of a 

 flower is heightened and not lessened by the knowledge 

 that each curve in its outline, and each spot of colour on 

 its petal has a definite utility in the plant economy. We 

 love violets; but we do not for that reason refrain from 

 studying them. The green leaves of the calyx are parted 

 to make room for the spur of the corolla, and the petals 

 are marked with finely-ruled lines leading to the mouth 

 of this spur. Each of the five stamens splits in two 

 lines down its inner surface to discharge its pollen, and 

 each is furnished with a curious little rusty-brown triangular 

 tip. Two out of the five have also tail-like appendages 

 which extend backwards into the spur, and secrete 

 the honey with which it is filled ; and finally above 

 the ovary rises a curious hooded style, like a bird's 

 head, with a hole at the side, in which is the stigma. 

 Judging by other plants we should say that we have in the 

 violet an elaborate series of contrivances for what botanists 

 call insect cross-pollination, i.e., the conveyance of pollen 

 by insect agency from one flower to another. Here is the 

 pollen : here is the attractive scent : here is the rewarding 

 honey and the " honey-guides," as the fine lines are termed, 

 to lead the insect visitor ; but the insect visitor hardly ever 

 comes, and it is not these elaborately-contrived flowers 

 that produce the large crop of seed on our violet-beds in 

 autumn. Later in the season, on shorter stalks, incon- 

 spicuous bud-like flowers will appear, but will not open. 

 They will have neither perfume nor honey, nor will any 

 insect enter them; but they it is that bear the well-filled 

 seed-capsules of autumn. The production of these " cleis- 

 togene" flowers, as they are termed, is still one of the 

 puzzles of the biologist. Nature seems to have altered her 



