Psyche; or, The Romance of Nature [pp. 464-476]

1884.] PSYCHE; OR, THE i?OMANCE OF NATURE. 473
produce of two similar forms crossed. If, for instance, you cross
two similar forms of primrose, you notice, as in a case of hybridation, that the descendants grow weak and become sterile.
When an insect takes nectar from a long-styled primrose his
proboscis is covered with pollen precisely to the part which will
touch the head of the pistil when he visits a short-styled flower.
This result is invariable, because the stamens in a long.styled
plant rise exactly to the same height as the pistil in short-styled
plants. On the other hand, if the insect visits first a short.styled
plant the proboscis becomes covered with pollen much farther
from the tip, just at the height of the summit of the pistil in a
long.styled plant. Darwin obtained later a third form that fertilizes itself, the stigmas being on a level with the anthers-that
is to say, a flower which unites pollen-sacks of the long-styled
floral form and a pistil of the short-styled form.
Look through my lens; examine carefully the top of the
style in the primrose you have just gathered. You will notice
scattered on the surface of the stigma little balls, which are
nothing but grains of pollen.
This is because at the period of fertilization the stigmas
bristle with delicate hairs, or short lashes, and produce a viscous secretion intended to retain the pollen and facilitate its
penetration. What can be more simple and at the same time
more ingenious? Sometimes' Nature seems to take pleasure in
accumulating difficulties in order to conquer them by a thousand
original combinations, where insects play a part all the more
wonderful because of their unconsciousness.
Sometimes, as in the sage, the stamens and pistil ripen at
different periods, thus making self-fertilization impossible. Then
bees come to the rescue, and the flower lays actual traps for
them. ~Vhen the bee enters a sage blossom with ripe stamens a
spring stretches out and claps down upon his hairy back tlie
anthers, laden with pollen, which were before hidden under the
upper lip of the corolla. The insect then enters a more mature
blossom with its ripened pistil hanging towards the opening of
the corolla; and thus the stigma necessarily comes in contact
with the pollen.
The nectar of flowers is perhaps only distilled by them in
order to attract insects, for flowers that do not need their aid
secrete none. Perfumes and colors serve equally to attract, and
are usually wanting in flowers fertilized by the wind. Flowers
fertilized by nocturnal or twilight insects give out their scent
only in the evening. Often aUangements are made to suit but