II LABIAT.E 327 



Ogle has suggested, because if the anthers had lain side 

 by side they would have formed a too broad surface, 

 and the pollen would have adhered to parts of the bee's 

 head which do not come in contact with the stigma, 

 and would therefore have been wasted ; perhaps also 

 partly, as he suggests, because it would have been 

 deposited on the eyes of the bees, and might have so 

 greatly inconvenienced them as to deter them from 

 visiting the flower. Dr. Ogle's opinion is strengthened 

 by the fact that there are some species, as, for instance, 

 the Foxglove, in which, as shown in Figs. 199-201, the 

 anthers are transverse when immature, but become 

 longitudinal as they ripen. 



But to return to the Dead-nettle. From the position 

 of the stigma, which hangs down below the anthers 

 (Fig. 213, St), the bee comes in contact with the former 

 before touching the latter, and consequently generally 

 deposits upon the stigma pollen from another flower. 

 The small processes (m) on each side of the lower lip 

 are the rudiments of the lateral petals with which 

 the ancestors of Lamium were provided. Thus, then, 

 we see how every part of this flower is either — like 

 the size and shape of the arched upper lip, the relative 

 position of the pistil and anthers, the length and narrow- 

 ness of the tube, the size and position of the lower lip, 

 the ring of hairs, and the honey — adapted to ensure 

 the transference, by bees, of pollen from one flower 

 to another, or, like the minute lateral points (m), 

 an inheritance from more highly developed organs of 

 ancestors. If we compare Lamium with other flowers 

 we shall see how great a saving is efi'ected by this 

 beautiful adaptation. The stamens are reduced to 4, 

 the stigma almost to a point. How great a contrast to 

 the Pines and their clouds of pollen, or even to such 

 a flower as that of Nymphaea, where the visits "of insects 

 are secured, but the transference of the pollen to the 

 stigma is, so to say, accidental. Yet the fertilisation of 

 Lamium is not less effectually secured than in either of 

 these. 



