USE OF THE MICROSCOPE JN BOTANY. 



2 9 



regularly or irregularly scattered. Pollen grains are 

 developed in the stamens (Figs. 10 and n), which are 

 the pollen-cases ; when they have arrived at maturity, 

 that stage at which they are fitted for the purpose of 

 fertilisation, the pollen-cases burst, and clouds of 

 pollen are shot forth like dust. Have you not often 

 dusted your nose with the yellow pollen of the garden 

 Eschscholtzia ? You have also, I dare say, been often 



Fig. 9 -Pollen mass of 

 Orchis Maculata. 



Fig. ii. Fou reel led 

 Fig. 10.' Stamens of Anther of Persian 

 Iris. Laurel. 



struck with the astonishing quantity of pollen some- 

 times found on a single stamen. A very little is 

 absolutely required for the fertilisation of the pistil : 

 why, therefore, this extraordinary abundance ? A great 

 deal of pollen, as you may suppose, runs to waste. 

 Such is the structure and position of the pistils of many 

 plants, that contact of the pollen-grains with the 

 ovule is often impossible except for the agency of the 

 winds, or of various birds and insects. The internal 

 cell contains a fluid (fovilld) which is supposed to 



