SECT. III. INDUCTION OF PARTICULAR PROOFS. 3 1 $ 



same end. The style 6f the Gloriosa superba is 

 bent towards the stamens at a right angle even from 

 the very base, and for no other conceivable purpose 

 but that of throwing itself in the way of the pollen 

 when discharged. The stamens of the genus Saxi- 

 fraga bend down to the pistil, one or two at a time; 

 if two, the two opposite, and discharge their pollen 

 directly over the stigma, returning afterwards to 

 their former position and giving place to one or two 

 others successively, which also retire in their turns, 

 till all of them have discharged their pollen.* 

 Similar phenomena have been observed in the 

 flowers of Parnassia, Celosia, garden Rue, and 

 others. 



But the most singular phenomenon of this kind 

 is that which is exhibited in the stamens of the 

 flower of the Berberry Bush ; the stamens which 

 are six in number lie sheltered under the concave 

 tips of the petals as long as they are allowed to re- 

 main undisturbed; but if any extraneous body, 

 whether by accident or design, is made to touch a 

 stamen at the base of the filament, it immediately 

 collapses with a sudded jerk and bends inward till 

 the anther strikes against the summit of the pistil, 

 discharging its pollen if ripe, and again retiring. 

 This curious and singular fact seems to have been 

 first discovered by Sir J.E. Smith,f of the truth ofwhich 

 any one may easily satisfy himself by applying the 

 point of any instrument sufficiently deli<sate to the 

 * Withering, vol. i. p. 239. t Phil. Trans. 1788. 



