sses which are
being enacted in that purple cone! Let us examine it closely. If we
pluck one of the blossom's heads and keep it in a vase over-night, we
shall probably see on the following morning a tiny yellow ring of pollen
encircling the outer edge of the cone. In this way only are we likely
to see the ring in its perfection, as in a state of nature the wind and
insects rarely permit it to remain.

[Illustration: Fig. 10]

If we now with a sharp knife make a vertical section, as shown at A
(Fig. 3), we may observe the conical receptacle studded with its embryo
seeds, each bearing a tiny tubular blossom. Three distinct forms of
these flowers are to be seen. The lower and older ones are conspicuous
by their double feathery tails, the next by their extended anthers
bearing the pollen at their extremity, and above these again the buds in
all stages of growth. These various states are indicated in Fig. 11.

As in all the Compositae, the anthers are here united in a tube, the
pollen being discharged within. At the base of this anther-tube rises
the pistil, which gradually elongates, and like a piston forces out the
pollen at the top. Small insects in creeping over the cone quickly
dislodge it. In the next stage the anthers have withered, the
flower-tube elongated, and the top of the two-parted pistil begins to
protrude, and at length expands its tips, disclosing at the centre the
stigmatic surface, which has until now been protected by close contact.
(See section.)

[Illustration: Fig. 11]

A glance at Fig. 11 will reveal the plan involved. The ring of pollen is
inevitably scattered to the stigmas of the neighboring flowers, and
cross-fertilization continually insured. Similar contrivances are to be
found in most of the Compositae, through the same method being variously
applied.

Perhaps even more remarkable than any of the foregoing, which are more
or less automatic in their movements, is the truly astonishing and
seemingly conscious mechanism displayed in the wild arum of Great
Britain--the "lords and ladies" of the village lanes, the foreign
counterpart of our well-known jack-in-the-pulpit, or Indian-turnip, with
its purple-streaked canopy, and sleek "preacher" standing erect beneath
it. A representation of this arum is shown in Fig. 12, and a cross
section at A, properly indexed.

[Illustration: Fig. 12]

How confidently would the superficial--nay, even careful--examination of
one of the old-time botanists