, 1888-10-03

at any cost, you mlgnC TRANSFER the pOIlen
yourself or pay some one to do 1t for you,
similarly to what is often done in regard to
plantations of vanilla. There is, however,
no need for you to do this, for Nature has
provided much more efficient agents for
this purpose than you could provide, and
has also arranged for their satisfactory
payment. First as to the payment if either
the male or female flower be examined, 1T
will be found to contain a small quantity
of nectar or honey at the bottom OF the
COrolla. In the male flower this will be
found surrounding a dimlnutive cone, stand.
ing at the bottom of the tube III the te-
male it surrounds the base of the Ovary.
Here then we have the wages fund for the
pollen carriers but who are they They
must, of course, be honey eaters. The writ
er OF these notes used to suspect, till quite
recently, that they were humming-blrdS, or
doctor birds, as they are often called Ill
Santa Cruz. The cOrolla of the male flower
is q narrow tube expanding into a spread
ing 'slimb1 as bOtanistS call it, at the top,
and Just where the tube begins to expand
there are ten antherS. 1t is not difficult to
imagine that the humming bird, in with
drawing his bill from the narrow tube OF
the male flower, may carry along with
him some of the pollen from the open an
theirs and transfer it to the Stigmas OF the
fem ale flower when he sucks from that.
But the present writer, after careful ObSer-
walton, doubts much whether this happens,
or at any rate is inclined to think that ii 1t
does happen, it is rather exceptional. The
carrier we are seeking for is probably an
other creature. just lately, an observer,
who had occasion about two years ago to
collect some Of the island moths, told the
writer, that the papau trees were visited III
the evening 10y large sphinx moths, OF
which he had caught several while engag-
ed sucking the blossoms and III these
sphinx moths we doubtless have the chief
carriers of the pollen. What happens is
probably this: the moth puts his SIphOn
down the tube Of the male flower and car
rieS off from the a~ntlerS against which his
head brushes the pollen which they throw
out ON bursting. and afterwards visiting
the female flowers leaves the pollen on Their
StigmaS. In measuring the two kinds OF
flowers it is interesting III tins connection
to note that the distance from the bottom
OF the mectdrE to the antherS III the
male flowers Gan inch) is equal to the dis
lance from the bottom of the ncctary to
about the ends OF the StiglAaS i'll HE female
flower. The twilight moths are then the
probable bearers OF the pollen from the
male to the female, and as the latter could
not bear tIlllU without tnc IOtmCis We nave
now seen that the non productive trees are
not without their use; but if it is asked
why il is necessary for the male and tmale
organs of the papau to be i'll separate flow
ers and those flowers on separate trees,
and whv they cannot be in the same flowers
and on the same trees, or in the case OF the
mango fOr instance, We are not able to give
an answer. The only one that suggests it.
self. is that Nature is crowded with variety,
and that without Il variety i'll methods there
would be no variety in results; out OF
course we feel the i%RadeQuacy OF the re-
DIV while we are writing it. That
there is some very good reason why the
sexes should be thus separated, even II we
cannot discern it, appears from the clrcum-
stance, that there is every ground to be-
lleve that the papau flower, and indeed all
uniSexual flowers, have in IA distant age
been biSexual, that is, have had stamens
and piStil in the same flower. Let us see
what evidence there is for this III the
papau flower. There is in the bottom of
the tube of the male flower, as already
mentioned, a small cone, which suggests
to us that we nave here the remains OF a
former piStil. Nature confirms this suspl'
cion by an occasional freak, in which a
complete pistil takes the place OF the cone,
and a perfect fruit is produced, different
from the regular fruit of the female tree
oulv;rUboiO n COO,ouGaf lOnOnr and narrower.