74 BULLETIN OF WISCONSIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. VOL. 1, NO. 2. 
the pistil, the three anthers of the outer row heing longer than 
those of the inner row, and shedding their pollen in advance of 
the latter. The stigmas of the three slender styles are situated 
about 3 mm. above the long anthers of the outer row, and become 
receptive at the same time that the anthers of the inner row begin 
to empty their pollen. 
During the last three years I have repeatedly watched the 
flowers of TrilUiiiii nival e in favorable weather, and have never 
seen a single insect visit them, or even take the slightest notice of 
them, although insect visitors were not lacking on the flowers of 
Erigcnia biilbosa, near at hand. There is nothing astonishing 
about this, as the flowers of Trill in in iiiralc have no fragrance, 
are devoid of nectar, and offer nothing but pollen to attract in- 
sects ; besides, it is a 'noteworthy fact, that our other species of 
Trilliuin, appearing later in the season, seem to have very little 
attraction for insect visitors and that even the large, conspicuous 
flowers of Trillinni grandifloruni, Salisb. (wake-robin), with their 
fair supply of nectar, receive comparatively few visits in our 
neighborhood. 
From the foregoing we must conclude that Trilliuin nirale is 
not visited by insects, and is, therefore, not cross-fertilized. In 
view of the erect position of the flower, and the elevated situation 
of the stigmas, there is no possibility of self-fertilization being 
effected through the falling of pollen on the stigmas. The only 
way open to spontaneous self-fertilization under these circum- 
stances, is hy the recurving of the style to such an extent as to 
bring the stigmatic surface in contact with pollen of a dehiscent 
anther. This is in fact the course adopted by the flower to insure 
self-fertilization, and is, so far as I have been able to observe, the 
only method of fertilization adopted at all. 
According to Gray's IManual of Botany, the range of Trill in in 
niz'ale is from western Pennsylvania and Kentucky to Minnesota 
and Io^^'a ; whether this plant resorts to the same mode of pollina- 
tion exclusively in other parts of the country, as it does in our 
locality, can not l)e stated, as up to the present time no account of 
the fertilization of this species has been published. 
\Mth Erigcnia hiilbosa Xutt. the case is altogether different. 
In 1882, A. F. Foerste (i) gave an account of the floral structure 
of this small, umbelliferous plant, and called attention to the 
proterogyny of the flowers, in other words, he made known the 
fact that the stigmas are receptive before the anthers of the same 
flower discharge their pollen. This announcement was received 
with much surprise among biologists, as up to that time, the Um- 
(1) A. F. Foersta. Dichogamy of Umbelliferae. Bot. Gazette, Vol. VII (1882). pp. 70-71. 
