A VERY INTELLIGENT PLANT 



277 



last blossom dusted her, each part being so con- 

 trived that what she takes from one flower she 

 hands on to another. You can see the little tufted 

 stigma standing up in the centre of No. 10, and can 

 understand how it must catch on its tip the fertilis- 

 ing yellow grains which the bee collected in a pre- 

 vious explosion. 

 But now no- 

 tice a curious 

 thing that next 

 happens. When 

 once the flower 

 is " sprung," as 

 we call it that 

 is to say, thus ela- 

 stically opened 

 the keel and 

 wings never go 

 back again into 

 their original 

 position. They 

 remain perma- 

 nently open. 

 You will thus 

 comprehend that 

 there is a great 



difference between the virgin flower, in which the 

 keel and wings are locked over the stamens, and 

 the "sprung" one, in which the keel and wings 

 have descended from their first position so that 

 the entire centre of the blossom is exposed to 

 view. Moreover, after the flower is once ferti- 





NO. 10. THE FLOWER, SPRUNG, AND 

 DISCHARGING POLLEN-SHOWERS. 



