1. 1 



H K ATM. UMBELLIFERS. 



inverted bell. The pistil represents the clapper, and 

 projects a little beyond the mouth of the bell. The sta- 

 mens are eight in number, and form a circle round it, 

 the anthers being united by their sides into a continuous 

 ring. Each anther has a lateral hole, but as long as they 

 touch one another, the pollen cannot drop' out. Each also 

 sends out a long process, so that the ring of anthers is 

 surrounded by a row of spokes. Now when a bee 

 comes to suck the honey, it first touches the end of the 

 pistil, on which it could hardly fail to deposit some 

 pollen, had it previously visited another plant. It 

 would then press its proboscis up the bell, in doing 

 which it would pass between two of the spokes, and 

 pressing them apart, would dislocate the ring of anthers : 

 a shower of pollen would thus fall from the open cells 

 on to the head of the bee. 



In many cases the effect 

 of the coloring and scent is 

 greatly enhanced by the asso- 

 ciation of several flowers in 

 one bunch, or raceme ; as for 

 instance in the wild hyacinth, 

 the lilac, and other familiar 

 species. In the great family 

 of Umbellifera, this arrange- 

 ment is still further taken ad- 

 vantage of, as in the common 

 Wild Chervil (Chcerophyllum 

 sylveslre, Fig. 19). 



In this group the honey is 

 not, as in the flowers just described, situated at the 

 bottom of a tube, but lies exposed, and is therefore 



FIG. 19 



Wild Chervil 

 phyllum sylvestre). 



