76 MIMULUS JAMESII. JAMES' MONKEY-FLOWER. 



Mimulus is not unlike that of Rhinantkus, it is quite probable 

 that the resemblance suggested the old name to Linnaeus, as 

 similar names were suggested to him under similar circum- 

 stances in quite a number of cases. 



The structure of the Monkey-Flower is very interesting. The 

 stigma is composed of two flat plates which expand, or even re- 

 curve (Fig. 3), when the flower is ready to receive pollen. These 

 expanded plates, when they are touched, close like the leaves of 

 the celebrated " Venus' Fly-Trap." Mr. Kitchener, speaking of 

 the Musk-Plant in the London "Journal of Botany" for 1872, 

 regards this arrangement as a device to prevent self-fertilization. 

 The bee on entering is supposed to bring foreign pollen to the 

 stigma, which latter then closes, so that the flower's own pollen 

 cannot be deposited on it as the insect withdraws. But in all 

 the observations made by the writer of this the motion was 

 found to be so slow that the plates of the stigma never closed 

 entirely before the bee had left the flower. 



The seed-vessel of our species, seen in section, is a very 

 beautiful object, owing to the peculiar construction of the axile 

 placenta, and the manner in which the seeds are attached to 

 them. We give an outline drawing of such a section in Fig. 4. 

 The construction of these placentae varies in the several species 

 belono-ino- to the eenus Miimdiis, but it is always worth exam- 

 ining. 



The geographical range of James' Monkey-Flower is given in 

 Dr. Gray's "Synoptical Flora of North America" as extending 

 "from Illinois to upper Michigan and Minnesota, and west to 

 the Rocky Mountains in Montana, and then south to New 

 Mexico and Arizona." 



Explanation of the Plate. — i. A young and vigorous plant at its first flowering. — 2. A 

 seed-beaiing branchlet late in the season. —3. A young seed-vessel, with the style and its 

 divided stigma. — 4. Cross-section of a mature seed-vessel. 



