1 98 DARWINISM AND THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



the pistil to the egg, and coalesces with it. Then, as a 

 rule, the germ drops ofif, tumbles to the ground, and the 

 fertilised e.^'g within it grows into a new plant. In 

 ordinary usage we call the fallen germ the " seed." 



In the parent-forms of the actual higher plants there 

 were male and female blooms, and the pollen was pro- 

 duced by the former in vast quantities and scattered far 

 and wide by the wind. In this way a grain would fall 

 on the stigma of a female plant and it would be fertilised. 

 This is still done in the case of a great many plants, 

 such as the grasses, the conifers, the birch, the hop, and 

 many others. The male blooms were constantly visited 

 by insects, as the pollen was an excellent food for them, 

 and this visit of the insects became the starting-point 

 for natural selection which made the conveyance of the 

 pollen to the female flowers safer, instead of leaving it 

 to the chances of the wind. 



Fertilisation was easier in those plants which offered 

 some attraction to the insects, as after visiting the male 

 flowers there were always a few pollen-grains sticking to 

 their body, and when an insect in this condition entered 

 the corresponding female flower, it was natural for some 

 of the grains to be brushed on to the stigma. We can 

 understand, therefore, why little pits came to be formed 

 in the female blooms of many plants, in which a sweet 

 fluid was secreted that attracted the insects. The 

 willows have remained at this stage, but in their case the 

 male flowers also secrete honey, and thus it is secured 

 that both kinds of catkins will be visited by the insects 

 and fertilisation obtained. 



However, this form of conveying the pollen left a 



