How the Flowers IVoo the Insects 



— stigmatic — surface in contact with the outside — 

 pollen-bcarino- — surface. Fertilized in this way, it 

 is possible for the iiower to produce seed without 

 the aid of insects. 



Progress is Nature's law. So long as the flowers 

 are improving, Nature will tolerate them. She 

 gives them many opportunities to prove their fit- 

 ness to live by showing that they are of use in this 

 busy world, where there is so much to be done. 

 But woe to the flower or insect that, in spite of all 

 the aids that Nature may extend, continues to degen- 

 erate. Death will surely be the penalty eventually 

 meted out lo it. 



In the case of the Angra'cum and its companion 

 moth, we cannot doubt that tolerance is shown. 

 Of course, in the extreme example cited, where 

 the blossom is so defective as to lack five inches of 

 the normal length, its chances of setting seed are 

 very few ; but even in this case, conditions may pos- 

 sibly arise which will enable it to mature its fruit. 



Where a blossom falls onl}^ a little short of the 

 requirements, it is i)ermitted many opportunities for 

 fertilization. For instance, the moth, whose tongue 

 is too short to sip the honey of the flower with the 

 thirteen-inch nectary, may, after receiving its pollen, 

 pass on, in his search for food, to a blossom with a 



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