THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



63 



the country I should have been dead years 

 ago. Besides how happy we could be, both 

 with the same tastes, and the same inclina- I 

 t'ons, what was pleasure for one would be 

 equal pleasure for the other, and though 

 people of different temperaments may live 

 together, and be comparatively happy, still if 

 their tastes lie in the same direction, the 

 chances of their happiness are much greater. 

 How beautiful, for instance, is the structure 

 of a flower," and, taking one of the yellow 

 crocuses from the group, she drew her chair 

 closer to her companion. " Now, look here," 

 she continued, "you see these five yellow 

 petals, in some of the flowers the petals are 

 blue. Inside these petals are five stalks, w ith 

 knobs at the top covered with a yellow dust, 

 these are called stamens,, and Linnk classed 

 plants according to the number of these 

 stamens. The knobs at the top are called 

 anthers. In the very centre of the flower is 

 another stem, called the pistil, with a knob 

 at the top covered with a glutinous substance, 

 this knob is called the stigma. I will now 

 slit this stem open, and you will see it is a 

 hollow tube w hich runs right down the flower 

 stem. If I touch one of the anthers a yellow- 

 dust comes off, and if I put some of this dust 

 under the microscope you will see it is a 

 compound of small grains, which are called 

 pollen grains. If any of this dust comes in 

 contact with this centre knob, or stigma, it 

 sticks, and the skin of the pollen grain bursts, 

 and a little tube is thrust out, which pene- 

 trates the central stem to the distance, in this 

 particular flower, of four or five inches. 

 When the pollen tube reaches the bottom of 

 the flower stem it comes to a little cavity 

 called the oviarv, and in this cavity are little 

 bodies called ovules, the pollen tube searches 

 pat one of these ovules, and having found it 

 |he end of the tube bursts, and the contents j 

 of the pollen grain pass along the pollen , 

 tube, and are discharged upon the ovules." 



" 1 low curious," remarked John wonder- ; 

 ingly, " and are all flowers arranged so ? " 

 " Well, not exactly," answered Spring. 



'• though the principle is the same in all. In 

 some plants the stamens and pistil are borne 

 on different flowers, or even on different 

 plants, and the plants, or flowers, are then 

 called male or female, as they bear stamens 

 or pistils." 



" But when the flowers are separate like 

 that how do the pollen grains pass from the 

 anthers, as you call them, to the stigma ?" 



" O, by various means. In the common 

 hazle, or nut-tree, the male and female flowers 

 I are separate ; I noticed some in the wood 

 t'>-day, and forgot to draw your attention to 

 them. The small flowers are borne on long 

 dangling catkins, which shake about in the 

 : least breeze, and in this way the pollen is 

 made to fly, and some of it is certain to come 

 : in contact with the stigmas of the small 

 scarlet female flowers, which you find at the 

 extremities of the little branches. In other 

 cases insects serve to convey the pollen from 

 one flower to another. A bee, for instance, 

 goes to a flower seeking honey, and in so 

 doing it rubs its back against the anthers, 

 when some of the pollen sticks to it. When 

 it goes to another flower these grains get 

 detached from its back upon the stigma." 



" And all this, of course, is that the seed 

 may be fertilised. " 



" Yes, certainly. Without this process 

 there could be no seed for the propagation of 

 the kind." 



A long conversation followed, in which 

 John avowed the interest he was beginning 

 to take in natural objects, and expressed his 

 willingness to be a pupil if Spring would 

 teach. 



" I shall only be too glad," said she, " and 

 as I am thinking of having a little expedition 

 after the moths, and do not care to go alone, 

 I shall be glad of your company if you will 

 come down some evening, and go with me." 



" And I shall be equally glad of yours, 

 String, what evening shall I come ? " 



" Come the first warm night when the wind 

 is not in the east, and I will have all ready." 

 (To bo continued.) 



