AGENCY OF INSECTS IN FERTILIZING PLANTS. 407 
It has five anthers which stand up close together, although 
not joined by their edges into a tube as in the dandelion. 
In three other respects it resembles this plant; namely, 
in having the style covered with hairs or short bristles on 
the outside, and in having the sensitive part of the stigma 
on the inside. In the same way also the style nearly 
doubles in length after the pollen is discharged. 
The pollen begins to discharge very soon, so that by 
the time the corolla is fairly open, the anthers wither, 
and are coiled up at the base of the flower. After the 
hairs on the style have nearly all disappeared, and the 
pollen which they held has been removed, or has turned 
brown in decay, the stigmas separate at the top, and ex- 
pose the sensitive surface. For each flower to be self- 
fertilizing, this plan is a perfect failure. 
Bees are willing agents here, as in other instances, 
alighting first on the stigmas of the oldest flowers, which 
are farthest down the stem, and then passing up to others 
which are younger. Besides collecting nectar at the bot- 
tom of the flower, they collect the pollen by scraping 
the style upon each side with their legs, and, when call- 
ing at the next flower, first strike the exposed stigmas, 
leaving a few little morsels as tribute for their bountiful 
supply. 
The flowers of the Mallow Family have numerous sta- 
mens, joined into a column or tube (monadelphous), 
through which the stigmas are protruded. My observa- 
tions on this family have been rather limited, but in the 
High Mallow (Malva sylvestris Linn.), the anthers all 
burst, and very littľe pollen remains about the flower, 
when the stigmas first come to the light, as brides too late 
for the marriage, for the bridegrooms have been carried 
away by the priests, and perhaps wedded to others. 
