176 MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS 



their own stigmas, as previously believed. The 

 insect, according to Sprengel, enjoyed the anoma- 

 lous distinction of having been called in, in the 

 emergency, to fulfil this apparent default in the 

 plain intentions of nature, as shown in the flower. 

 Attracted by the color and fragrance of the blos- 

 som, with their implied invitation to the assured 

 feast of nectar, the insect visited the flower, and 

 thus became dusted with the pollen, and in creep- 

 ing or flying out from it conveyed the fecundat- 

 ing grains to the receptive stigma, which they 

 could not otherwise reach. Such was Sprengel's 

 belief, which he endeavored to substantiate in an 

 exhaustive volume containing the result of his ob- 

 servations pursuant to this theory. 



But Sprengel had divined but half the truth. 

 The insect was necessary, it was true, but the 

 Sprengel idea was concerned only with the indi- 

 vidual flower, and the great botanist was soon 

 perplexed and confounded by an opposing array 

 of facts which completely destroyed the authority 

 of his work — facts which showed conclusively 

 that the insect could not thus convey the pollen 

 as described, because the stigma in the flower was 

 either not yet ready to receive it — perhaps tightly 

 closed against it — or was past its receptive period, 

 even decidedly withered. 



