22 The Third and Fourth Generation 



It is from this tiny speck of living substance 

 that the chick develops, and this is quite com- 

 parable to the egg that the plant ovule contains. 

 But neither the hen's egg nor the plant egg 

 will develop into the new individual — ^plant or 

 chick — unless it is fertilized. The anthers on 



Fig. 2. — ^The hen's egg opened 



the stamens contain a yellow powder, the pol- 

 len, the grains of which are often wonderfully 

 beautiful. Each grain is really a living cell 

 made of the same sort of substance that also 

 constitutes the egg. You will recall this yellow 

 dust in the case of the Easter lUy, in which it is 

 very conspicuous ; and probably as a child you 

 have stuck your nose into some flower on 

 purpose to get it dusted with the yeUow pollen. 



