1880. ] Botany. 203 
shown that the stamens shed their pollen on the outside of the 
style before the stigmas are open, i 
Mr. W. H. Goss tied paper sacks about flowers of Lobelia 
spicata; none of them bore seeds. From others he cut away the 
young anthers while very small. The latter were left ex- 
posed and all fruited. 
r. C. A. Ward, on the flowers of Martynia proboscidia has 
seen bumble bees, honey bees and another wild bee. Bumble 
bees were seen to enter the flowers. The stigmas closed before the 
bees backed out. The quickest time observed for the closing of 
the stigmas was ree seconds. It took this six minutes to 
Open again. The longest time for closing of stigmas was twelve 
seconds, and this occurred on a cool, cloudy day. e says, “It 
always took twice as many minutes to open as it did seconds to 
close. After about five trials made in succession, the stigmas re- 
fused to act, as if they were tired out.” 
Mrs. F. A. Gulley, during two weeks of very hot, dry weather, 
watched a patch of white clover, every day at different times, and 
never saw an insect near it. At the end of that time, she exam- 
ined Gfty of the heads, twenty-eight of which had no seeds. In 
the other twenty-two heads there were two or three, and some- 
times five or six of the flowers which contained seeds. Previous 
to dry weather, bumble-bees were abundant on the flowers and 
these seeded freely. 
r. E. A. Burke studied the flowers of Indian corn. In nearly 
out for a few hours. In each case the ovules developed. H e 
also tied up some before the stigmas appeared and fertilized 
them artificially. The kernels all set. a o 
Bees, wasps and other bugs visit the stamens. If the stigmas ee 
are soon ready for fertilization after they appear, they are in near- 
ly all cases crossed by pollen from other stalks. aono 
wr. A. G. Jack observed the flowers of Epilobium coloratum. 
It is well known that Æ. angustifolium is proterandrous or at least 
Most of the stamens ‘are ripe before the stigmas appear. The 
former plant under consideration -has four petals which are two- 
lobed, It has eight stamens, four of which are long and four a4 
ae short. The four long stamens grow up close to the stigma and o 
