PRESroENT S ADDRESS. XVll 



slieatli oiiclosint^ the sint^ular columnar flower is inHatod below, 

 and the fringe of reversed hairs on the spadix allows flies to 

 enter tlu'ough the narrow throat, but prevents their return. 

 They seek the honey from the ripened stigmas, taking their fill 

 until the anthers ripen and the pollen is liberated ; by this 

 time the fringe of hairs has withered, and the flies are released, 

 bearing their burden of pollen to another flower, where the 

 stigmas may be in a tit state to receive it. You will often find 

 many flies shut up in a flower. In the crocus you may see the 

 bees busily worming themselves sideways round the anthers, 

 which open outwards, covering their legs with pollen, and then 

 invariably alighting on the stigmas of the next flower. In 

 many flowers the floral organs are of different shapes. This is 

 the case in the primrose, where some flowers have long stamens 

 and short pistils, and in others this arrangement is reversed. 

 This is also to ensm-e cross-fertilization, for Nature is " careful 

 of the type."' Into the flower of the meadow orchis the bee 

 seeking for honey inserts his proboscis, at the same time detach- 

 ing the pollen masses, which affix themselves to his head, by a 

 viscid disc. At first they are reflexed, but shortly after 

 recover, and bend forwards like the horns of a bull, ready to 

 attack the stigma of the next flower the bee enters. These 

 singular arrangements are well known, and have been shown at 

 our meetings ; but they may, perhaps, be new to some, and I 

 wish to encourage in the young the habit of observation. The 

 most curious of the provisions to be met with amongst orchids 

 is that to be found in Catasetum, where, the pollinium being 

 placed out of the reach of insects, the flower is provided with 

 an antenna endowed with a peculiar sensitiveness, which, on 

 being touched, loosens, as it were, the spring of the hidden 

 pollinium, which is expelled with considerable force, striking 

 the insect, and the disc adheres to his head. This singular 

 bow will carry its arrow a distance of three feet. By the way, 

 a state of tension is often met with in seed vessels, promoting 

 the expulsion of the seeds. It is amusing to the uninitiated in 

 Xoli me Umi/cri' ; disagreeable in the squirting cucumber ; and, 



