CHAP. VII. SIZE OF THE COROLLA. 309 



probably retained its original size.* An objection to 

 the above view should not be passed over ; namely, that 

 the abortion of the stamens in the females ought to 

 have added through the law of compensation to the 

 size of the corolla ; and this perhaps would have oc- 

 curred, had not the expenditure saved by the abor- 

 tion of the stamens been directed to the female repro- 

 ductive organs, so as to give to this form increased 

 fertility. 



* It does not appear to me males serves to protect their pollen 



that Kerner's view (' Die Schutz- from rain. In the genus Thymus, 



mittel des Pollens,' 1873, p. 56) for instance, the aborted anthers 



jan be accepted in the present of the female are much better 



casf-s, namely that the larger protected than the perfect ones of 



corolla in the hermaphrodites and the hermaphrodite. 



