18 THE PLANORBIS COMPLANATUS. 



Let me ask you to call to mind the flower of the White Lily. All of 

 you know it with its beautiful white petals, bi-ight yellow stamens, 

 and long green pistils, or rather three pistils joined in one — confluent 

 pistils they are called — standing in the middle of the yellow stamer.s. 

 At a certain period of the year, the stamens become covered with 

 a yellow easily-removed dust ; the noses of most of us, no doubt, have 

 been discoloured by it before now. At precisely the same period, the 

 top of the green pistils, called the stigma, becomes sticky, and as a 

 breath of air, an insect, a nose, it may be, removes the yellow powder 

 or pollen from the anthers, some of it gets on to the sticky pistil, 

 each particle which does so begins to grow, throws out a long; thin 

 thread, which runs down one or other of the hundreds of tubes of 

 which the stalk of the pistil is formed, like a bundle of straws on a small 

 scale, and makes its way into the ovary, there to fertilise some one of 

 the many seeds it finds waiting for it. This process must take place 

 with all seed-bearing plants, properly so called. Cut away the sta- 

 mens from the flower, and unless pollen is brought from a neigbouring 

 flower, the pistil is of no use, for the seeds cannot be fertilized ; remove 

 the pistil and the pollen is wasted. In most plants this fertilization is 

 very easily effected, as the pollen dust "sits lightly on its throne," and 

 is removed by any slight shaking, or chance crawling of an insect. 



(To he continued.) 



THE PLANORBIS COMPLANATUS, 



Or Experiences of Aquarium Life. 



AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



I was born, at least as far as I can ascertain, in the River Cherwell, a 

 tributary of the Isis, and must have lived there about three months, when 

 a revolution took place in my fortunes, to which I may trace the origin of 

 the following eventful history. Phew! how hot that summer was. I 

 thought I shouhl have been boiled, at least I felt a very curious sensation, 

 although at the time I did not know it was boiliug. Well, one day I was 

 floating lazily on the surface of the water, when the whole of the liquid 

 element was rocked fearfully, and seemed to rise and fall in hollows and 

 eminences, up and down which I was home in great consternation. "Dear 

 me " thought I, " I had better go down," and was just drawing in my 

 head for that puriwse when I felt a blow that shook my whole house, and 

 quite unsettled my stomach. This had scarcely passed before I felt myself 

 lifted up into the aii- upon something which reminded me of the palings 



