ART 1IT.] THE MECHANISMS OF FLOWERS. 403 
_  Gentiana punctata, L., is proterogynous; @. acaulis, L., and 
—G. aselepiadea, L., are proterandrous. All three are adapted for 
a Beeble-bees (570, vol. xv.; 609, figs. 128-130). 
_ 296. GENTIANA PNEUMONANTHE, L. (Sprengel, No. 702, pp. 
150- 152). —Honey is secreted by the base of the ovary. The 
corolla i is 25 to 30 mm. long, and 8 to 10 mm. wide at the mouth, 
and it closes in dull weather, so that the honey is protected from 
1 The tube suddenly narrows below its middle, and the 
stamens, which from this point downwards are attached to the 
corolla, lie close to the ovary. A humble-bee can therefore creep 
lown as far as the middle of the tube; but in order to reach the 
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hi: 
Fic. 134.—Gentiana lutea, L. 
A.—Flower, slightly magnified. s, sepal; p, petal. 
B.—Base of the ovary. n, annular swelling which secretes honey ; ji, Hiiamnenit: 
honey, it must insert its proboscis between two stamens and the 
corolla, and for this purpose a proboscis 12 to 14 mm. long is 
necessary. In creeping into a young flower, the bee comes in 
contact with the anthers, which closely surround the still unripe 
stigmas and display the pollen on their outer surfaces; in creeping 
_ into an older flower it touches, with the same part that in a young 
| flower got dusted with pollen, the papillar side of the two stigmas, 
| which now stand above the anthers and are recurved so that their 
__ 1 Sprengel thought that the honey was sheltered from rain by the closeness of 
filaments to the ovary; but if one lets a few drops of’ water fall into an open 
er, they reach the honey easily. Here, as in many other cases, the structure 
ich Sprengel believed to be designed to shelter the honey from rain has rather 
object of excluding short- lipped and useless insects. 
DD2 
