404 AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 
others the anthers are in advance, and discharge their 
pollen before the stigmas appear. In either case the 
flowers act as though they were moneecious. 
These peculiarities have been termed dichogamy by 
Sprengel, who made the discovery many years ago. O 
the first kind, in which the stigmas are in advance of the 
anthers, I examined the young flowers of several species 
of Spiræa, just before any of the anthers had opened, and 
in all I found the stigmas quite plentifully covered with 
the yellow powder. Many stigmas were dry and with- 
ered, while some of the anthers were still full of fresh 
pollen. Similar observations were made upon False 
Solomon’s Seal, several species of Potentilla, Plum, 
Cherry, and others. One of the best examples of this 
kind was pointed out by Dr. Gray, in the case of the 
Plantain or Ribgrass (Plantago lanceolata Linn.), a 
troublesome piii: which is*too rapidly finding its way 
into meadows and waste places. 
These flowers, in arrangement, somewhat resemble a 
short tapering spike of Timothy or Herd’s-grass. The 
long hairy stigmas come out first at the base of the spike, 
and are quite withered and dead before the stamens of the 
same flowers appear in sight. By the time the long 
thread-shaped stamens of the | lowest flowers hang out their 
anthers, the stigmas of other flowers higher up the spike 
are exposed and ready to receive the fertilizing element. 
So new pistils continue to come forth, keeping in advance 
of the stamens. The long filament raises the anther 50 
high that it is brought near the stigmas of younger flow- 
ers farther up the spike. This plant, like most of the 
large Grass-family, is not visited by insects, as it secretes 
_ Ro nectar, but each anther is hung on a mere point (ver- 
-~ Satile) and every slight motion of the air keeps it flutter- 
