282 
SVEDELIUS : LIFE-HISTORY OF 
male flowers which are caught by the long petals can take 
place now, partly because the stigmas are not fully exposed, 
partly because the stamens, owing to their lack of filaments 
and to their straight position, can scarcely transport any 
pollen directly to the stigmas, even if they were brought 
far in towards the centre of the flower. It is to be observed 
also that the pollen grains—as I have mentioned above— 
are so heavy that they sink in sea water. Hence it is 
impossible that any shed pollen grains could be carried to the 
stigmas by their own flotation. 
The pollination here takes place in fact in an entirely 
different manner. If during low water one slowly pulls the 
pedicel of a flower, whose petals have caught some male 
flowers, below the surface level, one finds that the petals 
at once fold together owing to the pressure of the water, so 
that they catch the male flower between themselves. When 
I studied this plant in Jaffna I often had occasion to observe 
this fact. The male flowers were always enclosed by the 
embracing petals which shut rather closely together. But 
thus it, of course, also occurs that the anthers get an occasion 
to drop their pollen, and since this is heavier than the water it 
sinks down and can scarcely escape falling upon the stigmas, 
which stand vertically and in a circle , owing to the changed 
position underneath the level of the water. Probably also the 
strongly extended papillæ on the edges of the stigmas, which 
I have described above, aid the whole stigma apparatus with 
more certainty to carry on its work of catching and retaining 
the pollen grains. 
What is thus effected by pulling the flower under water 
happens naturally in the sea twice in one day and night 
during high water, and no flowers of Enalus can at that time 
be observed above the surface of the water, because they are 
all submerged. 
Whether the air bubbles, which when the petals close 
together are also caught inside the flower, are any obstacle 
or not for the pollination I cannot say. At any rate it is not 
