Riley 'Fifth Report on the
Noxious Insects of Missouri' 1873 page 86. Kerner 'Die Schutzmittel des
Pollens' 1873 page 6. This author has also seen a lake in the Tyrol so
covered with pollen, that the water no longer appeared blue. Mr.
Blackley 'Experimental Researches on Hay-fever' 1873 pages 132,
141-152.) Considering these facts, it is not so surprising as it at
first appears that all, or nearly all, the stigmas of anemophilous
plants should receive pollen brought to them by mere chance by the wind.
During the early part of summer every object is thus dusted with pollen;
for instance, I examined for another purpose the labella of a large
number of flowers of the Fly Ophrys (which is rarely visited by
insects), and found on all very many pollen-grains of other plants,
which had been caught by their velvety surfaces.
The extraordinary quantity and lightness of the pollen of anemophilous
plants are no doubt both necessary, as their pollen has generally to be
carried to the stigmas of other and often distant flowers; for, as we
shall soon see, most anemophilous plants have their sexes separated. The
fertilisation of these plants is generally aided by the stigmas being of
large size or plumose; and in the case of the Coniferae, by the naked
ovules secreting a drop of fluid, as shown by Delpino. Although the
number of anemophilous species is small, as the author just quoted
remarks, the number of individuals is large in comparison with that of
entomophilous species.
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