THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



37 



buttercup and its class — Ranunculaceoe — the 

 petals and stamens spring from a receptacle 

 placed upon the top of the stem, and every 

 plant in that class is more or less poisonous. 

 The dandelion is a representative of a large 

 class of plants having composite orcompound 

 flowers, because the flower head is composed 

 not of one flower only, bnt of a number of 

 minute flowers. He had brought with him 

 a magnificent flower belonging to the same 

 order, which had been furnished, along with 

 others, by their president (Mr. S. Learoyd). 

 Now everyone present would admit that 

 that was a magnifinent flower (a pure white 

 chrysanthemum four inches in diameter), 

 but they would perhaps be surprised when 

 be told them that it was not a flower but a 

 number of flowers, for if they took out one 

 of the seeming petals they would find that 

 each was a complete flower in itself. 



All the flowers he had named are called 

 poly-petalous, because all the petals are 

 distinct ; but there are others called mono- 

 petalous in which the p)etals are united as 

 in the primrose, &c. Linnaeus conceived 

 that every flower fertilized itself, but it has 

 been found out by Darwin and others that 

 scarcely one flower in a hundred fertilizes 

 it«elf. Even in those flowers which have 

 both stamens and pistils, in many cases the 

 one is withered when the other comes to 

 maturity, and in a great number of plants 

 the stamens will be on one plant while the 

 pistils will be on another perhaps miles 

 away, and the pollen has to be carried by 

 some means from the one to the other. This 

 was thought at first to be done by the wind, 

 but it has been found out that it is performed 

 chiefly by insect agency. He also described 

 Goethe's idea of a plant, that every part of 

 a flower is simply a metamorphosed leaf, 

 and shewed by diagrams on the black board 

 that this was .so, giving numerous instances ; 

 but such a subject would require a lecture 

 to itself to do it full justice. 

 A number of interesting slides were then 



exhibited under the microscope, among 

 other things a specimen showing the pollen 

 tube bursting from the pollen grain and 

 penetrating the summit of the stigma. 



BRITISH BIRDS, THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. Moslkv. 

 14. HEN HARRIER. 

 Circus cyaneus (Linn.) 

 Sammakko-Haukka (N. Lapland). 

 Cy.^nel-.s. — Blue coloured. 



Size. — Male, length 17 in. to 19 in. ; 

 expanse of wings about 2 ft. 9 in. or 10 in. 

 Female, length 10 in. to 22 in. ; expanse, 

 2 ft. 9 in. or 10 in. 



Plumage. — Thk adult male has the 

 bill nearly black ; cere, eyes, and legs lemon 

 j yellow. The base of the bill is covered with 

 I black bristles. Head, throat, breast, and 

 i back blue grey. The first six primaries 

 I nearly black, white at the base, and the 

 fourth slightly longer than the third. Upper 

 tail coverts white. Tail blue, the outer 

 feathers white with grey bars. Under parts 

 below the breast, white. 



The adult female has the crown of the 

 head, ear coverts, breast, and back dark 

 brown, the feathers about the neck margined 

 on each side with lighter brown. A light 

 streak extends over, and another under the 

 eye, with a dark line between the two. 

 Feathers behind the neck white, with a 

 brown line down the centre of each. Pri- 

 maries dark brown, the outer webs greyish 

 and the inner webs barred. Upper tail 

 coverts white. Tail, the two centre feathers 

 dark brown with six still darker bars, the 

 rest ferruginous with dark brown bars. 

 Under parts, below the breast, ferruginous 

 white. The two sexes wer^ formerly con- 

 sidered distinct species, the male being 



