Whilst the flowers of the common cultivated heartsease are young, the anthers shed their pollen into a little semi-cylindrical passage, formed by the basal portion of the lower petal, and surrounded by papillae.  The pollen thus collected lies close beneath the stigma, but can seldom gain access into its cavity, except by the aid of insects, which pass their proboscides down this passage into the nectary. (4/5.  The flowers of this plant have been fully described by Sprengel, Hildebrand, Delpino, and H. Muller.  The latter author sums up all the previous observations in his ‘Befruchtung der Blumen’ and in ‘Nature’ November 20, 1873 page 44.  See also Mr. A.W.  Bennett in ‘Nature’ May 15, 1873 page 50 and some remarks by Mr. Kitchener ibid page 143.  The facts which follow on the effects of covering up a plant of V. tricolor have been quoted by Sir J. Lubbock in his ‘British Wild Flowers’ etc. page 62.) Consequently when I covered up a large plant of a cultivated variety, it set only eighteen capsules, and most of these contained very few good seeds—­several from only one to three; whereas an equally fine uncovered plant of the same variety, growing close by, produced 105 fine capsules.  The few flowers which produce capsules when insects are excluded, are perhaps fertilised by the curling inwards of the petals as their wither, for by this means pollen-grains adhering to the papillae might be inserted into the cavity of the stigma.  But it is more probable that their fertilisation is effected, as Mr. Bennett suggests, by Thrips and certain minute beetles which haunt the flowers, and which cannot be excluded by any net.  Humble-bees are the usual fertilisers; but I have more than once seen flies (Rhingia rostrata) at work, with the under sides of their bodies, heads and legs dusted with pollen; and having marked the flowers which they visited, I found them after a few days fertilised. (4/6.  I should add that this fly apparently did not suck the nectar, but was attracted by the papillae which surround the stigma.  Hermann Muller also saw a small bee, an Andrena, which could not reach the nectar, repeatedly inserting its proboscis beneath the stigma, where the papillae are situated; so that these papillae must be in some way attractive to insects.  A writer asserts ‘Zoologist’ volume 3-4 page 1225, that a moth (Plusia) frequently visits the flowers of the pansy.  Hive-bees do not ordinarily visit them, but a case has been recorded ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle’ 1844 page 374, of these bees doing so.  Hermann Muller has also seen the hive-bee at work, but only on the wild small-flowered form.  He gives a list ‘Nature’ 1873 page 45, of all the insects which he has seen visiting both the large and small-flowered forms.  From his account, I suspect that the flowers of plants in a state of nature are visited more frequently by insects than those of the cultivated varieties.  He has seen several butterflies sucking the flowers of wild plants, and this I have never observed in gardens,