324 LINN^US AND THE JUSSIEUS 



not hindered by the foliage. Sprengel observes that 

 this is true only of wind-fertilised trees ; the lime, 

 which is insect-fertilised, flowers in the height of 

 summer, though the branches are then clothed with 

 leaves. 



Linnaeus suspected that the nectar of flowers promotes 

 pollination by insects. Relating after Quintilian the 

 story of a lawsuit between neighbours, one of whom 

 complained that his flowers were rifled by the other 

 man's bees, he adds : — " But in my opinion the bees do 

 more good to the flowers than harm, since by their 

 ceaseless labours they scatter the pollen and bring it to 

 the pistil." He goes on to say that " it is not yet clear 

 what part the nectar plays in the physiology of the 

 flower." It is sometimes said that Linnaeus was the 

 first to distinguish the nectaries, but Malpighi had 

 described them in the crown imperial seventy years 

 before. B. M. Hall in the Amoenitates discusses their 

 function. He thinks that their secretion moistens the 

 ovary, and in this way favours the growth of the 

 embryo. He admits however that nectaries occur in 

 male flowers, which of course contain no embryo. In 

 the end he adopts the suggestion previously thrown 

 out by Linn^us, viz. that the nectar is a food for 

 insects, which disperse the pollen by fluttering in the 

 flowers. 



The Sponsalia Plantarum contains some observations 

 on hybrid tulips and cabbages. It is shown that two- 

 coloured tulips may be got by artificial fertilisation from 

 parents which are pure red or pure white. Cauliflowers 

 are liable to be fertilised by cabbage-pollen, and to pro- 

 duce common cabbages. By way of proof the story is 

 quoted from Ray's History of Plants of an English 

 gardener who sold a great quantity of what he supposed 



