284 Ewart . — On the Staminal Hairs of Thesinm . 
That the staminal hairs do serve as collectors of pollen may 
be inferred from the fact that usually many pollen-grains are 
entangled in them, especially in older flowers in which the 
terminal caps have broken off, and in which the secretion has 
consequently escaped, as seen in Fig. 4. In the plants con- 
stituting the second part of the above series, the pollen would 
be held at about the level of the low stigma, so that an insect 
visitor would either take pollen from the hairs, or leave pollen 
on the stigma according to circumstances, the same position 
serving for either ; and the grouping of the hairs on either side 
of the stamen would also facilitate the catching of the pollen 
as it falls from the anther. The long pendent perianth- fila- 
ments may serve as guides to the insect, leading it to the lower 
part of the flower, and the ‘ hooding 5 of the perianth would, 
in this case, probably prove sufficient obstacle to prevent the 
insect passing behind the stamen, and so missing the stigma. 
In the plants constituting the first part of the series, the 
staminal hairs have been modified apparently, for a different 
function. 
They are more numerous, and are grouped behind the 
stamen, instead of on either side. The ‘hooding’ is not well 
developed, and in many cases is altogether absent, while the 
stamens are inserted high up in the perianth. Perhaps in this 
series the staminal hairs act as an obstruction, preventing the 
insect passing behind the stamen. They may also help to 
catch and hold the pollen, and this function would account for 
the large amount of secretion they contain, for in many cases 
the hairs and pollen grains were seen glued into an irregular 
mass above and behind the anther by the extruded secretion. 
The perianth-filaments are very short and thick, or absent 
altogether, but if their purpose be as before, to guide the 
fertilizing insect, the greater length and prominence of the 
style and stigma, together with the position of the anthers, in- 
serted high up in the perianth-tube, would render them less 
necessary. The correlation in the two cases seems obvious ; 
but it is exceedingly difficult to judge what part the various 
structures play in different cases. 
