AUTOGAMY BY MOVEMENTS OF STAMENS. 339 



flowers should visit them in quest of honey. In a short time the stamens opposite 



the petals raise their anthers to the same height as the stigmatic tissue of the 



divergent styles; but the filiform filaments slope away from the axis, so that there 



is always some interval, however small it may b&, between anthers and stigmas, and 



there is still no autogamy. It is not till the last moment, when the flowers begin 



to close, that the stamens opposite the petals incline towards the centre of the 



flower, and, laying their anthers upon the stigmatic tissue, cover it with a quantity 



of their still abundant store of pollen. In most of the Alsineje, of which we are 



speaking, the anthers in front of the sepals also come into contact with the stigmas 



at the same moment, but in a few cases they project above the stigmas and petals, 



and their pollen is then not available for autogamy. It is remarkable that in the 



; the latter, which may be represented by Sagina saxatilis, the characteristic fact 



; of the pollen of the five stamens opposite the sepals being devoted to cross-fertiliza- 



I tion, and that of the five stamens opposite the petals to autogamy, is exactly the 



I reverse of the arrangement found to exist in the Saxifrages above described. 



Next to this series of plants of which the Saxifrages of the Aizoonia and Tridac- 

 tylites groups and the Alsinese above-named are the chief representatives, comes 

 another composed predominantly of Crucifene. They are for the most part annual 

 ■ species with small flowers, which are but little visited by insects, and the majority 

 I of their fruits must be looked upon as products of autogamy. Cochlearia Green- 

 landica, Draba borealis, Draha verna, Clypeola Messanensis, Lobularia nummu- 

 laria, Hutchinsia alpina, SchievereJda Podolica, Lepidium Draba, Alyssum 

 calycinum, are a few examples, and the selection shows incidentally that the range 

 I of the cruciferous plants in question extends from the extreme North to the latitude 

 i of the Sahara, and from high altitudes to the level of the deep-lying steppes; in fine, 

 that this same process of autogamy recurs under the most diverse external condi- 

 tions. All these Cruciferae are protogynous, and have six stiff" stamens, four long 

 and two short. The anthers of the former are still closed when the flower opens, 

 but are already on the same level as the stigma. Autogamy is, however, prevented 

 immediately on the dehiscence of the anthers, owing to there being a little horizontal 

 I interval between them and the stigma. It is not till the flower is almost over that 

 I the erect filaments move sufficiently towards the middle of the flower to deposit the 

 ! pollen upon the stigma. The pollen of the shorter stamens does not get transferred 

 ; at all to the stigma in the same flower except in a few species. It is carried away 

 I by insects and used for cross-fertilization, whilst the pollen of the longer stamens 

 I mainly subserves the purpose of autogamy. Lepidium Draba exhibits a curious 

 contrivance to prevent the four longer stamens from being touched by insects and 

 j despoiled of their pollen during the first part of the time that the flower is open, 

 ; The stamens referred to bend outwards and hide themselves for a time behind 

 ( the petals. The advantage of this movement is that in no circumstances can there 

 ; be a deficiency of pollen for the ultimate process of autogamy. In Hutchinsia 

 i alpina usually only one of the four longer stamens approaches sufficiently near to 

 j the stigma to cover it with pollen, and after it has effected this object, it removes 



