president's addeess. 119 



concerned he discharged the duties which fell to him up to the 

 time of his death." May his mantle fall on a worthy successor ! 



A YEAR'S WORK WITH POLLEN. 



Plates 4 and 5. 



By way of showing how every member of our Club may 

 acquire much true Natural History, by a systematic use of 

 leisure moments, I propose to place before you the result of 

 observations made in one year, 1887, by myself (but which press 

 of parochial work has delayed being focussed till this year, 1894), 

 in the hope that others may find as much pleasure and profit as 

 I did. This may not be worth much, but I venture to think, 

 honest, earnest work is never absolutely worthless, and this can 

 at least claim to be both. Pollen was chosen from the simplicity 

 of its structure. The kinds examined were 494. The instrument 

 used was a microscope with low power magnifying about 60 

 diameters and high power about 258. 



To understand pollen we must look at its source. This is 

 what is called a flower. Flowers are usually borne on branch 

 or stock, though sometimes on apparent leaves, as in the Rhee- 

 dias, where the tiny florets are seen on their margins. Truly, 

 a flower is a group of leaves modified for the special purpose of 

 reproduction. We may call a flower a stunted branch, and the 

 parts of a flower modified leaves. Double flowers are made by 

 changing reproductive organs back into modified leaves, hence 

 perfect double flowers can produce no seed, and are monstrosities. 

 The essential parts of a flower are stamen and pistil. Petals, 

 sepals, nectaries, etc., are accessories either attractive or protec- 

 tive. The true reproductive organs are generally found together 

 in one flower, but either may exist without the other, and then 

 we have the simplest flower. That reproductive organ which 

 produces ovules and seeds is the pistil, and is called the female 

 organ; the- stamens produce pollen and are called the male 

 organs. Pollen is that coloured dust shed in a full-blown flower 

 from the anthers. 



Our attention now narrows to these anthers. The essential 



