244 FUNCTIONS OE 



the time the pollen is ripe. The beautiful Jacobean 

 Lily, Amaryllis formosissima, Curt. Mag. t. 47, is 

 justly described by Linnaeus as provided with a drop 

 of clear liquid, which protrudes every morning from 

 the stigma, and about noon seems almost ready to fall 

 to the ground. It is however reabsorbed in the after- 

 noon, having received the pollen whose vapour renders 

 it turbid, and whose minute husks afterwards remain 

 upon the stigma. The same phenomenon takes 

 place several successive days. 



In opposition to similar facts, proving the synchro- 

 nous operation of these organs, Pontedera has, with 

 more observation than usual, remarked that in the 

 umbelliferous tribe the "style frequently does not ap- 

 pear till the anthers are fallen. But he ought to have 

 perceived that the stigma is previously-perfected, and 

 that the style grows out afterwards, in a recurved and 

 divaricated form, for the purpose of providing hooks 

 to the seeds. It is also observable that in this family 

 the several organs are sometimes Brought to perfection 

 in different flowers at different times, so that the an- 

 thers of one may impregnate the stigmas of another 

 whose stamens were abortive, or long since withered. 

 The same thing happens in other instances. Linnaeus 

 mentions the Jatropha urens as producing flowers 

 with stamens- some weeks in general before or after 

 the others. Hence he obtained no seed, till he pre- 

 served the pollen for a month or more in paper, and 

 scattered it on a few stigmas then in pefection. There 



