160 Dr . Smith’s Obfervations on ihe 
This irritability is perceptible in (lamina of all ages, and 
not merely in thofe which are juft about difcharging their pol- 
len. In feme flowers which were only fo far expanded that 
they would barely admit a bridle, and whole anther® were 
not near burfting, the filaments appeared almoft as irritable as 
in flowers fully opened ; and in feveral old flowers, fome of 
whofe petals with the ftamina adhering to them were falling 
oft, the remaining filaments, and even thofe which were al- 
ready fallen to the ground, proved full as irritable as any I had 
examined. 
From fome flowers I carefully removed the germen, with- 
out touching the filaments, and then applied a briftle to one 
of them, which immediately contracted, and the ftigma being 
out of its way, it was bent quite over to the oppofite fide of 
the flower. 
Obferving the ftamina in fome flowers which had been irri- 
tated returning to their original fituations in the hollows of 
•the petals, I found the fame thing happened to all of them 
iooner or later. I then touched fome filaments which had 
perfectly refumed their former filiations, and found them 
contract with as much facility as before. This was repeated 
three or four times on the fame filament. I attempted to fti- 
mulate in the midft of their progrefs fome which were return- 
ing, but not always with fuccefs ; a few T of them only were 
flightly affeCted by the touch. 
The purpofe which this curious contrivance of nature an- 
fwers in the private oeconomy of the plant, feems not hard to 
be difeovered. When the ftamina ftand in their original pofi- 
tion, their antherae are effectually fheltered from rain by the 
concavity of the petals. Thus probably they remain till fome 
infeCt coming to extraCt honey from the bafe of the flower, 
thrufts 
