A HOMELY WEED 



31 



conditions are to be 



found on this cluster. 

 A small \vas}D is now 



seen hovering about the 



flowers, and we must 



turn our attention to 



him as seen in Figs, i, 



2, and 3. The insect 



alights, we will assume, 



on a blossom of the second day 



(Fig. i), clinging with all his 



feet, and thrusting his tongue 



into the' beads of nectar shown 



at A' and B'. He now brings his breast or 



thorax, or perhaps the underside of his head, 



against the pollen, and is thoroughly dusted with 



it. Leaving the blossom, we see him in flight, as 



at Fig. 2, and very soon he is seen to come to a 

 freshly opened flower, which he sips as be- 

 fore. The pollen is thus pushed against 

 the projecting stigma, as 

 shown at Fig. 3, and 

 thus, one by one, the 

 flowers are cross-fer- 

 tilized. 



The stigma, after re- 

 ceiving pollen, imme- 

 diately bends down- 

 ward and backward, 



