Chap. VII. SIZE OF THE COEOLLA. 309 



probably retained its original size.* An objection to 

 the above view should not be passed over ; namely, that 

 the abortion of the stamens in the females ought to 

 have added through the law of compensation to the 

 size of the corolla ; and this perhaps would have oc- 

 curred, had not the expenditure saved by the abor- 

 tion of the stamens been directed to the female repro- 

 ductive organs, so as to give to this form increased 

 fertility. 



* It does not appear to me males serves to protect their pollen 



that Kerner's view (' Die Sohutz- from rain. In the genus Thymus, 



mittel des Pollens,' 1873, p. 56) for instance, the aborted anthers 



can be accepted in the present of the female are much better 



cases, namely that the larger protected than the perfect ones of 



corolla in the hermaphrodites and the hermaphrodite. 



