i8 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



feathery heads, they do not seem to waste so 

 much pollen as other, taller, and more 

 scattered flowers would waste, if obliged 

 to trust to the breezes alone for its disper- 

 sion. At any rate, almost all wind-fertilised 

 plants are obliged to have some plan for pre- 

 venting the pollen of each blossom from 

 falling upon its own pistil, and so produc- 

 ing poor, weak, self-fertilised seeds. They 

 almost always display some curious device, 

 to ensure a cross with the neighbouring 

 flowers. In the woodrush the thin papery 

 petals have been utilised in a manner sub- 

 sidiary to this new object. They were no 

 longer of any service in attracting insects, but 

 they have been very simply diverted to 

 another function. Here I have picked one 

 of the younger heads with the blossoms yet 

 unopened. From the top of each flower a 

 long white plume of three waving filaments 

 a Prince of Wales's feather in miniature 

 protrudes through the tightly closed petals. 

 These plumes are the sensitive surface of 



