JrxE, 1901.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



125 



which I voceivecl any record is Horloy iu Surrey, distant 

 50 miles. It does not of course follow that reports A-cre 

 never heard at a less distance, for most pereons so 

 situated would imagine their observations to be of little 

 consequence, but the undoubted fact remains that many 

 who went out to listen to the guns returned home dis- 

 appointed. Thus, one correspondent, who was on a 

 steamer just outside the line of battle-ships, could hear 

 only the reports from the vessel neai'est to him. At Ports- 

 mouth, the lii'st signal that the procession was approach- 

 ing the liarbour came from a gun fired from the 

 ■' Victory." which is stationed there; for even the sound 

 of the guns on the coast defences were scarcely audible 

 in the town. It is said that not a report was heard at 

 Chichester (15 miles from the nearest battleship). Mid- 

 hiu^t (22 miles'), Winchester (20 miles),! Fritham Plain 

 (2 miles N.W. of Lyndhurst, 16 miles), Newbui-y (44 

 miles). Bournemouth (27 miles), and Yarmouth (I.W., 

 only 10 miles). 



There can be little doubt, I think, that the varying 

 direction of the wind over the southern half of England 

 is mainlv responsible for this curious result. If there 

 were no wind, and the temperature were uniform, the 

 sound-waves from any gun would be spherical and the 

 sound-rays rectilinear. If the velocity of the wind were 

 uniform throughout, this would also be the case, though 

 the sound would be heard slightly further iu the 

 direction towards which the wind is proceeding than iu 

 the other. But if, as usually happens, the velocity of 

 the wind increases with the height above the ground, 

 the sound-rays are no longer rectilinear. Those travel- 

 ling in the du'ection from which the wind is coming are 

 bent upwards, while those travelling in the same 

 direction are bent downwards. In the former case, the 

 sound-rays pass over the heads of observers at a moderate 

 distance ; in the latter, rays which started upwards at a 

 small angle are brought down again to observers at a 

 considerable distance. They are thus audible at much 

 greater distances than if there were no wind, and be- 

 sides travel as a iiile along unobstructed paths. 



Xow, on February 1, the wind at places to the west of 

 Spithead was generally light and from the west or 

 nearly so, though near Lyndhurst there was a fresh 

 breeze from about W.X.W. or X. \V. At Portsmouth, again, 

 the wind is described as from the shore. On the other 

 hand, many of my correspondents at great distances from 

 Spithead state that the wind, when sensible, was 

 southerly in direction. Thus, the sound-rays were 

 first of all refracted by contrary winds over the heads of 

 observers between 10 and 45 miles, and were afterwards 

 brought down again by favourable upper currents, so 

 that the reports were clearly audible beyond 50 miles and 

 up to 140 miles from Spithead. and were so loud at a 

 distance of 84 miles that labourers in the fields put down 

 their spades and listened. 



♦ 



FLOWERING PLANTS, 



AS ILLUSTRATED BY BRITISH WILD-FLOWERS. 



P.V R. LlijYD PR.A.EGER. B A. 



III.— FLOWERS. 

 Having briefly considered the uses and the architecture 

 of the roots, stems, and leaves of plants, we now come to 

 examine the floral structures. Here we find an elabora- 

 tion of design, a wealth and variety of shape and colour, 

 a specializing of organs to meet peculiar requirements, 

 which must strike with admiration the most casual 



+ 'Winchester lies in a hollow ; and, at other times, guiu ai'e. T am 

 informed, often heard ujion the Downs while they arc inaudible in 

 the city. 



observer. The roots and leaves which wo have been 

 considering have for their main object the contributing 

 to the success in life of the individual, and only in- 

 directly, according as they minister to the life and health 

 of the individual, do they in most cases contribute to 

 the continuance of the race. Flowei-s, on the other hand, 

 are especially concerned with the life of the race, not of 

 the individual. ' If we cut off every blossom of a plant 

 before it reaches maturity, the health of the plant 

 will be in nowise injured; but seed will not be pro- 

 duced, and carried to its ultimate limit, such practice 

 woidd eventually lead to the extinction of the species. 

 Wo now begin to see why plants (so to speak) indulge iu 

 such an elaborate exjjenditure of care and ingenuity in 

 the designing of their (lowers — the hope of future genera- 

 tions rests in these delicate and marvellously beautiful 

 structiu'es, and on their success in carrying out their 

 appointed part in the production of copious and perfect 

 seed. 



For our present purpose, the essential nature of a 

 flower may be brojuUv defined in a very few words. A 

 flower is a gi'oup of modilied leaves, of which the essential 

 parts consist of male and female elements, the male 

 element consisting of pollen-pcoduciiig organs, while 

 the female consists of the young seed and its accompany- 

 ing stractures. The male organs, or stamen, at the 

 jjroper time liberate grains of pollen, which on reaching 

 the receptive surface of the female organs, grow dow^n 

 into the embryo, or young seed, and the union of these 

 elements is followed eventually by the production of 

 perfect seed. Surrounding these essential organs there 

 are generally other leaves, of very varied shape, size, 

 colour, and number — the sepals and petals. The function 

 of these is largely protective, and often attractive ; some- 

 times, as we shall see, repeUaut; and it is to these 

 protean outer portions of fiowers that our attention will 

 be mainly directed. Xow. although a large proportion 

 of flowering plants produce male and female organs 

 in the same flower, it is generally essential for the pro- 

 duction of fertile seed that each flower should be ferti- 

 lized, not with its own pollen, but with the pollen of 

 another flower — that cross-fertilization should be effected. 

 This implies the transfer of pollen from one blossom tn 

 another : and in the manner in which this transfer 

 is effected we have the key to the mysten' of the infinite 

 variety of shape and colour that we find iu flowers. 



To begin with a simple case. The flowers of gvissc^ 

 consist each of several small chaffy green leaves, which 

 enclose the male and female organs. The flowers 

 are usually arranged in little groups, each group foiTning 

 part of a large branched colony of flowers, or iufloic-- 

 cence ; each individual flower is small and inconspicuou'. 

 The function of the outer parts of the flower is purely 

 protective; they keep the essential portions warm^and 

 dry, and safe from the attacks of animal enemies. While 

 the outer portions are thus minute in size, the essential 

 portions — tiie stajnens, and the receptive portion of the 

 female organ, or .«//</»(«— are well developed and com- 

 paratively conspicuous, and project, when the flower is 

 mature, far out into the air. W'hyisthis? The grasses 

 rely on the wind to carry the pollen from one flower to 

 another. The stamens are large and long, that plenty 

 of pollen may be launched on its journey free from sur- 

 rounding obstacles. The stigma likewise projects, that 

 it may have the better chance of intercepting the floating 

 erain«. In such flowers an abundant supply of pollen 

 and projecting anthers (as the pollen-bearing portions 

 of the stamen arc called) and stigmas are the most serv-ice- 

 ablc modifications; - and these requirements we find 



