

NATURAL ORDERS 129 
(verticillasters), the 4 nut-like fruits forming a 4-divisioned 
schizocarp. | 
The corolla and the stamens vary in the different genera. 
As arule, the corolla is distinctly bilabiate. Mint and Gipsy- 
wort have an almost regular corolla, whilst in Bugle and 
Wood-sage the upper lip is either very short or wanting. 
The stamens are usually 4, the fifth, the posterior one, tome 
suppressed. The Sage and Gipsy-wort have SS 2. In the 
Sage, the structure of the stamens 
should be noticed, as they show 
.a curious contrivance for cross- 
pollination. The stamens have - 
very short filaments and long, 
slender connectives. This bears 
at its upper end a perfect half- = 
anther with pollen, and at the Fic, 117.—Sramen or Sacz. 
lower end the other half-anther, 4%, auther; /, filament; c, con- 
: : : nective 
which is generally empty. This 
last is situated at the mouth of the corolla-tube, just in 
the path of the insect. As the insect touches this empty 
anther-lobe the connective swings round at right angles, so 
that the upper anther-lobe, with pollen, empties itself on 
the bee’s back. The stamens develop first in this flower, so 
that if the bee, when it has received the pollen on its back, 
goes to an old flower, the stigmas which, bending downwards, 
le in the path of the bee, are cross-pollinated. 
Pollination here seems to be some relation between the 
ofthe length of the corollatube and the number of 
Order. insects visiting the flower ; the number of insect — 
__ visitors is less the longer the tube. 
Mint and Gipsy-wort, with their short tubes, are mostly 
visited by flies and small insects. Thyme and Marjoram have 
in addition bees, which perhaps are more frequent even than 
flies; Betony is visited about equally by bees and flies, 
whilst in the genus Stachys bees are the most important 
visitors, and in Sage, Deadnettle, Bugle, the flowers are cross- 
pollinated almost exclusively by bees. 

