INTELLIGENCE OF FLOWERS 



ment: the two little balls that carry the pollen-stalks and soak 

 in the stoup are replaced by a single viscid disc, shaped like 

 a saddle. If, following the road to be taken by the insect's 

 proboscis, we insert the point of a needle or a bristle into the 

 flower, we very plainly perceive the advantages of this simpler 

 and more practical arrangement. As the bristle touches the 

 stoup, the latter splits in a symmetrical line and uncovers the 

 saddle-shaped disc, which at once fastens to the bristle. 

 Withdraw the bristle smartly and you will just have time to 

 catch the pretty action of the saddle, which, seated on the 

 bristle or needle, curls its two flaps inwards, so as to embrace 

 the object that supports it. The purpose of this movement is 

 to strengthen the adhesive power of the saddle and, above all, 

 to ensure with greater precision than in the Orchis latifolia 

 the indispensable divergence of the pollen-stalks. As soon 

 as the saddle has curled round the bristle and as the pollen- 

 stalks planted in it, drawn apart by its contraction, are forced 

 to diverge, the second movement of the stalks begins and they 

 bend towards the tip of the bristle, in the same manner as in 

 the Orchid which we have already studied. The two com- 

 bined movements are performed in thirty to thirty-four sec- 

 onds. 



