THE 
AMERICAN NATURALIST. 
VoL. xi. — JANUARY, 1879. — No. 1. 
ON CERTAIN CONTRIVANCES FOR CROSS-FERTILI- © 
ZATION IN FLOWERS. 
BY PROF. J. E. TODD. 
INCE the first announcement of the principle of cross-fertili- 
zation, by Darwin, many most interesting and instructive 
examples have been na and published, but the field is by no 
means exhausted. 
Some ingenious contrivances for cross-fertilization are charm- 
ingly described by Prof. Gray in his little work “ How Plants 
Behave,’ which he published a few years since as earnest of a 
larger work, which, we hope, may be soon forthcoming. One as 
wonderful as any is the Iris. His description applies nearly 
‘equally well to any species of that beautiful genus. His figure, 
perhaps, is open to slight criticism; the pistil is too erect and the 
stigma, therefore, too high above 
the sepal to illustrate its function 
to the best advantage. The posi- 
tion given is sometimes observed 
after the pistil is fertilized, but before 
that the pistil turns down so close 
to the sepal that a large bee in 
entering must touch the stigma 
with his back, which has been pow- 
dered with pollen while working 
in some previously visited flower 
(Fig. 1). Not stopping, how- 
well stated before, I would simply Aah a ae portion of an k 
ye call attention to one p2int which I isis Bower. a, stigma. a 
~ think is worthy of mention, viz: the pieaiikei am of the 
VOL. XIIL—NO. I 
