4-0 LETTER II. 



curved downwards, as if it was their business to 

 protect the surface of the ovary {jig. 11.), others 

 stand erect, and have a head of a brownish colour, 

 from which a clammy fluid exudes ; the last are 

 secreting" hairs, and their duty is supposed to consist 

 in carrying oif the volatile matter to which the plant 

 owes it smell ; for they are not only found on the 

 ovaries, but on almost all the other parts. 



When the fruit {fig. 0.) is ripe, it resembles, in a 

 striking manner, the bill of certain birds ; on which 

 account the Geranium is called, in English, Cranes- 

 bill, by which I w^ould have introduced it to you, if 

 the Latin name had not become the more common. 

 This singular appearance is owing to a very simple 

 circumstance. In most plants the styles shrink up, 

 or fall off, at the same time that the flower fades, 

 and by the time the fruit is ripe, have entirely disap- 

 peared. But in the Geranium, the styles continue 

 to grow and harden as fast as the fruit itself ; and 

 when the latter is ripe, the styles project from 

 the ovaries in the form of a beak. At the time 

 when the fruit is ripe the seeds are shut up in the 

 cavities of the ovary, so that one would wonder how 

 they are to get out ; if you would w ish to catch the 

 Geranium in the act of sowing its seed, gather a 

 little branch of the ripe fruit in a fine summer's 

 morning, before the dew is off it, and put it in 

 the sun. By degrees the fruits will dry, and if you 

 watch them, you will be surprised by some of them, 

 on a sudden, emitting a snapping sound, and you 

 may see first one and then others of the ovaries 



