72 THE FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [PART III. 
4, ANEMONE NEMOROSA, L.—This plant also has flowers destitute 
of honey, in which, however, the sepals, not the stamens, play the 
part of petals in rendering the flower conspicuous. When the 
flowers open, the stigmas are still covered up and protected by the 
stamens, but during the greater part of the period of flowering 
both stigmas and anthers are mature at the same time, and exposed 
to the touch of insects. These alight sometimes in the centre of a 
flower, sometimes on a sepal, touching, therefore, either stigmas or 
anthers first, and they accomplish self-fertilisation as well as cross- 
fertilisation. The inclined position of the flower brings more or 
Fic. 24,—Pulsatilla vernalis, L. 
A.—Some of the outermost stamens metamorphosed into nectaries; and some of the next in order, 
which retain their proper function. (x 7) ‘ 
B.—Top of style, with the stigma, more magnified. 
less of the stigmas in the line of fall of the pollen, which leads to 
self-fertilisation if insects’ visits fail; but experiment has yet to 
decide on the efficacy of this self-fertilisation. 
On February 25, 1868, out of seven flowers in my room, which 
had opened simultaneously, I fertilised two with pollen from other 
flowers, two with their own, and I left three untouched. On 
February 29,in both of those which had received the pollen of 
other flowers, all the anthers had fallen off and the ovaries were 
distinctly swollen ; in the two which had been fertilised with their 
own pollen, most of the anthers had fallen off and the ovaries were 
swollen, but much less so than in the two former cases; the three 
remaining flowers, which had been untouched, still retained all 
a 
— ee hl 
