THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



ting up from end to end. Sometimes they become pierced 

 with holes at the top, and the pollen issues forth like 



212. Stamen of the 213. Four-celled Anther of the 



Potato 



Persian Laurel. 



214. Stamen of the 

 Amaryllis. 



a cloud of smoke. Lastly, in some flowers each sack 

 presents one or two little doors in miniature, opening on 

 microscopic hinges, the gaping mouth of which vomits 

 forth the animated dust. 



In the pollen the exquisite delicacy of its organization 

 corresponds to the importance of the task confided to it. 

 Before the invention of the microscope men were far from 

 thinking how curious it is. It w^as considered to be only 

 a formless dust; the valuable instrument has revealed 

 the fact, that, on the contrary, it possesses a distinctly 

 defined configuration, which varies very much both with 

 regard to its general form and the ornamentation of its 

 surface. This diversity is even great enough to allow 

 botanists to make it the basis of their classification of 

 plants.^ 



1 Although they possessed very imperfect means of observation, onr jirede- 



cessors were nevertheless struck by the variety of tlie polliiiic grains. Adanson, 



who pushed Ins mania for classifications so far as to produce sixty-five, and who 



based them on the first things which struck him, even the smell and taste of 



plants, did not omit to form a classification based on the configuration of the 



pollen. — Adanson, Families des Plantes. Paris, 17(i;3. Preface, p. 286. 



50 



