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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
201
Tell
me,
has
not
the
Salvia,
while
remaining
so
much
the
same
shape
as
the
dead-nettle,
devised
a
wonderful
contrivance
to
make
use
of
the
visits
of
the
bee?
The
common
sweet
violet
(Viola
odorata)
or
the
dog
violet
(Viola
canina),
which
you
can
gather
in
any
meadow,
give
up
their
pollen-dust
in
quite
a
different
way
from
the
Salvia,
and
yet
it
is
equally
ingenious.
Everyone
has
noticed
what
an
irregular
shape
this
flower
has,
and
that
one
of
its
purple
petals
has
a
curious
spur
sticking
out
behind.
In
the
tip
of
this
spur
and
in
the
spur
of
the
stamen
lying
in
it
the
violet
hides
its
honey,
and
to
reach
it
the
bee
must
press
past
the
curious
ring
of
orange-tipped
bodies
in
the
middle
of
the
flower.
These
bodies
are
the
anthers,
Fig.
61,
which
fit
tightly
round
the
stigma,
so
that
when
the
pollen-dust,
which
is
very
dry,
comes
out
of
the
bags,
it
remains
shut
in
by
the
tips
as
if
in
a
box.
Two
of
these
stamens
have
spurs
which
lie
in
the
coloured
spur
of
the
flower,
and
have
honey
at
the
end
of
them.
Now,
when
the
bee
shakes
the
end
of
the
stigma,
it
parts
the
ring
of
anthers,
and
the
fine
dust
falls
through
upon
the
insect.
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