Burnside. 97 



entrance to the open top. Round the style (that upright 

 part of the pistil which supports the stigma) the five anthers 

 are placed side by side, forming a circle or ring around it. 

 You notice that the stigma protrudes beyond the stamens, 

 and thus self-fertilisation is rendered impossible. The anthers 

 being placed so closely together, the pollen, even when ripe, 

 cannot fall out ; but on the outside of each anther are two 

 little spiny processes, which, when pressed with a pin, force 

 the anther away from the style and from its companion 

 anthers, and this allows the pollen to be freely scattered. 

 How, then, does Nature set the pollen free ? Easily enough. 

 The bottom of the tubular corolla is provided with nectaries 

 in which nectar is secreted ; a bee comes to the flower to 

 rifle it of this nectar. Into the corolla the tongue of the bee 

 is thrust, and its head is forced into the upper part of the 

 hollow as well ; the head presses against the spiny processes 

 of the anther, which is thus forced back, and the pollen is 

 scattered over the bee's head as it sucks the honey from the 

 nectaries below. Having rifled the flower of its contents, 

 the bee flies off to another ; its head comes in contact with 

 the sticky stigma thereof, to w r hich some of the pollen grains 

 adhere. As it passes from flower to flower the same process 

 is gone through, the same unconscious work is performed in 

 obedience to the behests of the Great Mother, who thus 

 utilises one of the humblest of her offspring for the common 

 weal. 



What a number of bees there are flying about ! I expect 

 that some one has brought his hives up here. I know that 

 in many parts of England and Scotland bee-keepers place 

 their hives on the edge of the heather-clad moors during the 

 Slimmer, at that time when 



