364 
NOTES AND MEMORANDA. 
provided with liairs, are placed midway in the tube of the funnel- 
shaped, slightly curved, horizontal-lying corolla, their backs pressed 
against its uj>per wall. The style is as long as the tube, and runs 
along a little groove in the roof. The stigma consists of two li])s ; the 
upper is folded into a tube, and points straight forward. Through 
this lip alone is it possible for the pollen to fertilize the ovules. 
Pollen touching the lower lij) would seem to be of no avail. What, 
then, is its use ? In contrast to the other li^), it is spread open, and 
projects downwards over the enti-ance to the tube. Its use is to act as 
a lever in this way : if an insect alights on the limb and essays to 
enter, in so doing the lever is pushed in, so that the receptive surface 
of the up2)er lip is brought down on its back, where lies a suj^^^ly ^f 
pollen from another flower. In this way, pollenization is secured. 
Passing on, the insect releases the lever, and the stigma assumes its 
former position. Now we have to see how, in the first place, the back 
of the insect became charged with pollen. In going to and return- 
ing from the nectar at the bottom of the flower, it would evidently 
brush the pollen ofl’ the hairs of the anthers above, by which it has 
been retained. This, then, is the use of the anther-hairs ; had the 
jiollen fallen to the floor of the tube, it could not have been carried 
away. The insect now has to pass out, and again the lever lip of the 
stigma comes into action. Just as it effected pollenization when the 
insect entered, so now it prevents contact of the pollen of its own 
flower. The upper and receptive lip is pushed up out of the way by 
pressure from within against the lever. 
Under the microscope, I find that the edges of the two lips appear 
to be different ; the papillae of the rece2)tive lij 3 are shorter than those 
of the lever li]^, and its edge is thickened. I am indebted, however, to 
bright weather for a strong confirmation of the mechanical views I 
have above expressed. I have then observed that the receptive lip 
has been bathed with mucus, while the lever lip has been quite dry : 
the one has thus been shown to be receptive, and the other not. The 
author says he has the support of Mr. Charles Darwin in saying that 
this peculiar structure is thus aj^parently correctly explained.* 
The Stnmiatoporidce . — Mr. H. J. Carter continues the discussion 
on this subject in the October number of the ‘ Annals,’ under the 
title “ The probable nature of the Animal which produced the Stroma- 
ioporidce traced through Hi/dractinia, Millepora alcicornis, and Canno- 
pora to Stromatopora” and in which the views of Dr. Dawson t and of 
Professor Nicholson and Dr. Murie J are criticized, the latter article, 
however, being referred to as a “ valuable and welcome contri- 
bution.” 
Structure of Blood-corpuscles. — At the “ Physiological Laboratory,” 
University of Michigan, Dr. C. H. Stowell has continued his study on 
the structure of the red blood-corpuscles. 
The method employed is that given by Professor Boettcher in the 
‘ Archiv fiir Mik. Auat.,’ vol. iv. § 
* ‘Journal of tlie Linnean Society’ (Bot.), vol. xvii. p. 1-15. 
t See p. 208. X P- xviii. p. 212. 
