48 LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
does or does not possess a flower stalk. If the flower be 
sessile, then efficient protection will be best obtained by ~ 
long petals, for these will, as the wind blows, fold over 4 
and shield the ripe anthers from injury, or from being ~ 
robbed of their pollen. If, on the other hand, the flower 
be stalked, or if the branches bearing the flowers be 
delicate, then the flower, being anchored by its proximal 
end will turn round and present its back to the wind. 
Further, the petals will overlap each other, and so form 
amore or less perfect tube, carrying the current beyond 
the flower entirely. Manifestly polypetalous flowers with 
long peduncles will be best protected. 
It is worth while drawing attention to the estivation in 
this relation, for the more easily the petals close and the 
more perfect the tube or bell so formed the better the 
protection afforded to the andreecium. 
Another point worthy of note is that the petals are © 
usually curved. A little careful measurement shows that : 
that curve is nearly always a hyperbola, so that the . 
tendency of the curve is to fend off the wind current inthe ~ 
best manner possible, viz. to an infinite distance. If the 
sides of the tube so formed were straight then there would 
vx a cea to form an eddy inside the flower. 7 
. How may one explain the form of inflorescence — 
seen in the Composite ? 
It is quite probable that the attractive function of the | 
corolla has had something to do with the form of the . 
capitulum. In short, as Grant Allen* puts it, “by thus — 
combining their mass of bloom they are enabled to make 
a great show in the world, and to secure the fertilization — 
of a great many flowers at once by each insect which j 
visits the head.’”” One ought to remember, of course, in — 
ee wee Sa ee ee a wee Te eee ee. 
* “Flowers and their Pedigrees,” 
