144 
POPULAR SCIENCE RETIEW. 
in a convenient handle), and, with small pins such as entomo- 
logists use, pin it open upon the cork. A little more than half 
way up the tube lie side by side five golden-yellow elongated 
little bodies, the full examination of which requires the aid of 
a lens. These are the 
The anthers of a flower represent the male, or fecundating 
element, and in most instances consist of an elongated double 
sac, containing an immense number of minute bodies, variable 
in size and form in different species, called pollen-grains. When 
matured, the anther, or pollen-sac, ruptures throughout its 
length, or opens by valves, and the pollen grains escape. In 
the primrose the sac is ruptured longitudinally. It is worthy of 
notice that the primrose is one of those dimorphic flowers, in 
which the anthers occupy different positions in the tube of the 
corolla in different individuals. In some the anthers are placed 
a little more than half-way up the tube, in others they are 
arranged at the top, or orifice of the tube.* 
The pollen grains are very minute, and in order to determine 
their form must be submitted to the microscope. Viewed by 
a :|^th or Jth objective, they are found to be ellipsoidal (fig. 6), 
with six longitudinal ridges. The end of the grain is stellate 
(fig. 7), showing distinctly the six prominent ridges. Mohl, and 
afterwards Dr. Hassall, described the pollen grains of Primulacese 
as possessed of but three ridges, which may be true of some 
species, but certainly is not true of the primrose, for the ridges 
are distinctly six, and rarely seven. 
The anthers are attached to the tube of the corolla by a very 
short filament. The number, position, and mode of insertion 
of the stamens (anther and filament combined) is of great im- 
portance in dissecting a flower. In order to observe the position 
of the stamens, it is only necessary to make a longitudinal section 
of the entire flower (fig. 14), and examine it carefully with a 
pocket lens of about one inch focus. If the stamens are to be 
removed, or any operation requires to be conducted in which 
it is desirable that both hands should be at liberty, a small 
metal stand may be purchased at an optician’s, consisting of a 
stout brass wire fixed in a metal disc ; the wire passes through 
the hole in the handle of the lens, fitting tightly, so that the 
lens may be elevated or depressed at leisure. By this arrange- 
ment the lens may be mounted on its stand and placed on the 
table before the observer in such a position that the flower when 
laid beneath it shall be in focus, and the operator has both 
hands free. By a little attention it will be discovered that the 
* For further particulars on this subject, the reader is referred to Mr. 
C. Darwin’s communication in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 
Botany^ vol. vi. p. 77. 
