VARIOUS MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. loi 



Thus every pin-eyed blossom must always be fer- 

 tilised by a thrum-eyed, and every thrum-eyed by 

 a pin-eyed neighbour. This is one of the most 

 ingenious arrangements known for cross-fertilisa- 

 tion. 



Much as I should like to dwell further on 

 these interesting cases, I must hurry on to com- 

 plete our rapid survey of a great subject. Flow- 

 ers like the harebell and the primrose are tubular 

 but regular. Other flowers with a tubular corolla 

 go yet a step further and are irregular also. This 

 irregularity, like that of the monkshood, secures 

 for them in the end greater certamty of fertilisa- 

 tion. Two well-known groups of this sort are 

 the sages, on the one hand, and the fox-gloves, 

 monkey-plants, and snap-dragons on the other. 

 I shall mention only one instance of special de- 

 vices for cross-fertilisation in these groups, that 

 of the various sages, beautifully seen in the large 

 blue salvias of our gardens. In this plant there 

 are only two stamens, though most of the group 

 to which it belongs have four, because the ex- 

 cellent arrangements for fertilisation make this 

 single pair a great deal more effective than the 

 thirty or forty required by the common buttercup. 

 For the stamens are delicately poised on a sort 

 of lever, so that the moment the bee enters the 

 flower, they descend and embrace him, as if by 

 magic. While the stamens alone are ripe, this 

 continues to happen with each flower he visits; 

 but when he goes away to an older blossom, he 

 finds the stigma ripe, and bending over into the 

 spot previously occupied by the stamens. You 

 can try this experiment very easily for yourself 

 by putting a straw or bent of grass down the 



