260 Mr. T. H. Farrer on the Mechanism for 



If the above observations are correct, this looks like a very 

 curious and elaborate mechanism in order to secure the fer- 

 tilization of one flower by the pollen of another. The form 

 and position of the wings, their partial cohesion with the keel, 

 the spiral and partly tubular keel, the delicate flexible fila- 

 ments of the stamens, the moist and sticky pollen, the strong 

 elastic column of the style, its spiral form, the position and 

 character of the stigma, the brush that sweeps out the an- 

 thers, the motion of the style on the bee's visit (which first 

 brings the stigma into contact with his proboscis, and then, 

 when it has swept him clear of the pollen of a former flower, 

 brings the brush loaded with its own pollen into contact with 

 the proboscis, and deposits its load with him, and finally 

 allows him to withdraw without touching the stigma again) 

 are surely a number of very remarkable and elaborate adapta- 

 tions, all apparently tending to the transportation of pollen 

 from one flower to another. 



Mechanism for Fertilization of the common Blue Lohelia. 



The corolla has a broad lip or lower side, so as to afford a 

 standing-place to insects j the tube is slit on the upper side, 

 so as to afford play to stamens and pistils. 



The stamens have hard, syngenesious anthers, and separate^ 

 flexible filaments, which are attached to the calyx at some 

 distance from the base of the style, so that they look like 

 shrouds to a mast. The two on the lower side are the shortest 

 when the flower opens, and look as if they pulled the anthers 

 downwards. 



The anther-tube is open at the top in the early bud, but 

 closes before the flower opens, and then again opens by a very 

 small aperture, which is at this stage, in consequence of the 

 bending over of the upper anthers, pointed downwards at right 

 angles to the mouth of the tube of the corolla. Out of the top 

 of the connective of the two lowest anthers grows a cluster of 

 short thick bristles in a downward direction across the mouth 

 of the tube of the corolla. The anthers are very hard exter- 

 nally, and internally very soft ; they open inwards when the 

 flower opens. There is an abundance of dry powdery yellow 

 pollen. 



The style is surrounded imme- 

 diately below the stigma by a ring 

 of bristles, which are developed in 

 the bud at an early stage, and point 

 outwards and upwards until the 

 stigma is fully developed. The 

 stigma remains inside the anther-tube when the flower first 



