And hence, without some additional and peculiar aid, the pollen must
necessarily fan down to the bottom of the flower. Now, the aid that
nature has furnished in this case, is that of the Tiputa
Pennicornis, a small insect, which entering the tube of the corrolla
in quest of honey, descends to the bottom, and rummages about till
it becomes quite covered with pollen; but not being able to force
its way out again, owing to the downward position of the hairs,
which converge to a point like the wires of a mouse-trap, and being
somewhat impatient of its confinement it brushes backwards and
forwards, trying every corner, till, after repeatedly traversing the
stigma, it covers it with pollen sufficient for its impregnation, in
consequence of which the flower soon begins to droop, and the hairs to
shrink to the sides of the tube, effecting an easy passage for the
escape of the insect." Rev. P. Keith-System of Physiological Botany.
"Pshaw!" said the king.
"'Quitting this land, we soon arrived at another in which the bees
and the birds are mathematicians of such genius and erudition, that
they give daily instructions in the science of geometry to the wise
men of the empire.
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