Fertilization of the Scarlet Uunner. 259 



consequence of the direction and contraction of the spiral coil, 

 this protrusion of the stigma is at first made in a direction 

 rather outwards than upwards, towards the blade of the left 

 wing of the flower ; but as the thrust continues, the stigma 

 turns more and more upwards. The anthers remain in their 

 place within the tube, in consequence of the thin thread-like 

 character of the filaments, which crumple up, and have not, 

 like the stiif elastic style, the power to thrust themselves out- 

 wards. Consequently the anthers are passed over and swept 

 by the brush of the style. 



The result of these movements is that when the bee first 

 inserts his proboscis into the flower, the stigma will exactly 

 meet and sweep the base of it, and will brush off" from it and 

 keep a large part of any pollen it may have brought from 

 other flowers. As the bee presses the wing of the flower 

 further back, the style comes out further; the stigma turns 

 upwards away from the insect, and that part of the style which 

 is covered with hairs comes in contact with the base of the 

 proboscis. In coming out of the tube or hollow of the keel 

 this brush has been forced against and has swept the sticky 

 pollen out of the anthers, and is covered with it ; and, in 

 consequence of the position of the hairs and the direction of 

 the thrust, the pollen is especially thick on the side of the 

 style which is next the bee. As he struggles and twists to 

 get the nectar, abundance of the pollen is deposited on and 

 clings to the base of his proboscis,. as may be seen by thrust- 

 ing any pointed object into the flower. When he quits the 

 flower, its wing springs back to its original place : the keel of 

 the flower does so also, and the end of the elastic style retreats 

 to its own old position within the hollow of the keel. But it 

 does not do this very quickly ; and as the bee's motion, and 

 especially that of his proboscis, is very rapid, his proboscis 

 must be withdrawn before he ceases to weigh down the wing, 

 and at any rate before the stigma retreats. It follows that 

 his proboscis will not, in retreating, be touched or swept by 

 the stigma ; and the last thing it will touch in leaving the 

 flower will be the pollen-covered brush of the style, from which 

 it will carry ofi* an abundant load of fresh pollen, to be depo- 

 sited in its tm-n on the stigma of the next flower. 



I found the base of the proboscides of some bees which 

 I caught covered with the pollen. I also found the stigmas 

 of flowers which had opened in a room, and were not visited 

 by bees, quite free from pollen, although, on pressing down 

 the wing of the flower, the brush of the style was seen to be 

 covered by it. On the other hand, the stigmas of the flowers 

 visited by bees were always covered with pollen. 



