The Wild Mignonette 



it and shut it in so securely that before any honey 

 can be taken out the lid must be prised open. There 

 are a good many small stamens and an oblong seed- 

 case (surmounted by three teeth), which is built up 

 by the union of three carpels. Curiously ei^ough, 

 this seed-case never quite closes at the top, and this 

 is a pecuhar characteristic of the flower. 



The stamens shed their pollen at the very time 

 the stigmas are ripe to receive it, so that a flower is 

 quite in a position to fertiUse itself, but it does not 

 often appear to avail itself of the chance ; for the 

 most part its pollen seems useless to fertilise its 

 own seeds. (The garden mignonette is quite sterile 

 to its own poUen.) Evidently the flower aims at 

 fertilisation from a neighbour, and Httle flies who 

 might help are often found visiting it, but a 

 German observer, MiiUer, who made a special study 

 of the visits of insects to flowers, pointed out 

 that the Mignonette is specially visited by, and 

 specially adapted to the visits of that variety of 



wild bee known as Prosopis, one of the four 



149 



