266 THE FERTILISATION OF FLOWERS. [PART III, | 
affinity between them. Two stamens and the single style project, 
diverging from one another, from the middle of the erect corolla; 
they form the platform on which an insect must stand to reach 
the honey, which is secreted by a fleshy ring surrounding the base 
_ of the style and is lodged in great abundance in the base of the — 
flower. Since the style stands a little lower than the two stamens 
and projects a little further forward, it forms the most convenient 
alighting-place, and is that most usually selected. When an 
insect settles on it, it touches with its ventral surface the stigmatic _ 
knob at the end. As it stretches forward, and grasps with its — 
Fia. 88.—Circea lutetiana, L. 
Flower viewed obliquely from above. 
a, ovary. 
b, the two sepals. 
¢c, the two bilobed petals, alternating with the sepals. 
d, the two anthers. 
é, stigma. 
forefeet the bases of the two stamens, which are the only available ; 
supports, it involuntarily draws the stamens (which are very thin — 
at their base, and therefore easily moved) inwards and downwards, — 
so that the anthers dust the under surface of its body with pollen. - 
Though this is apparently the simplest course which an insect — 
can take, and that which most surely leads to cross-fertilisation, it 
is not the only one. The insect not unfrequently alights upon — 
one of the stamens, and as this bends downwards it grasps the base — 
of the same stamen and of the style with its forefeet. If the style — 
now brings its stigma in contact with the ventral surface of the © 
insect, as is usually, but not always, the case, it touches the side 
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