Ferraria
(named after J. B. Ferrari, 1584-1653, an Italian botanist). ORD. Irideoe. A genus of half-a-dozen species of interesting dwarf bulbous plants, with curiously spotted evanescent blossoms, from the Cape of Good Hope. This genus belongs to the section Moroeeoe; it has many-flowered spathes, the filaments united in a tube, and the petaloid stigmas fringed. In a warm, sunny situation, and if planted about 6in. deep, Ferrarias prove hardy. Increased by seeds and offsets. They rarely grow more than 6in. in height. F. antherosa (large-anthered). A synonym of F. Ferrariola. F. atrata (blackish). fl. Dark reddish-purple, fringed with brownish-green. (L. B. C. 1356.) F. divaricata (divaricate). fl. Brown. May to July. l. linear, acute, glaucescent. Stem branched at top. 1825. (S. B. F. G. 192.) F. Ferrariola (Ferrariola).* fl. Greenish-brown. March to July. l. equitant, ensiform; lower narrow. Stem simple. 1800. SYN. F. antherosa. (B. M. 751.) F. obtusifolia (obtuse-leaved). fl. Brown. May to July. l. distichous, ensiform, obtuse, keeled on both sides. Stem erect, branched, many-flowered. 1825. (S. B. F. G. 148.) F. uncinata (hooked). fl. Brown; spathe two-flowered; segments of perianth involuted at apex. May to July. l. linear, striated, hooked at top. Stem branched, shorter than the leaves. 1825. (S. B. F. G. 161.) F. undulate (waved).* fl. greenish-brown. March and April. l. equitant, ensiform, wavy; inner twice as narrow as the outer. Stem branched. 1755.(B. M. 144.) FERTILISATION BY INSECTS. It is only within comparatively recent years that the important part played by Insects in the Fertilisation of flowers, has been thoroughly realised. A goodly number of plants will be found, upon examination, to bear flowers manifestly adapted for Insect visitations; and observations will prove that in the cases where precautions are taken to prevent these, Fertilisation does not occur, although the flowers in question may be hermaphrodite. As a rule, flowers of gay colours, those possessing much scent or secreting nectar, are more or less dependent upon Insect agency. Most dioecious plants, or even hermaphrodite ones, in the Fertilisation of which the wind is a necessary auxiliary, present peculiarities of structure which do not obtain in those which are now called "entomophilous;" they do not secrete nectar, the pollen is too dry to adhere to Insects, and the corolla is either absent, or possesses neither the colour, scent, nor nectar which attract them. Amongst hermaphrodite flowers which are homogamous-that is to say, those in which the stamens and stigma ripen together-there are some which, experiment has proved, are sterile with their own pollen, but fertile enough if furnished with pollen from the flowers of other plants of the same species. The scarletflowered Linum grandiflorum is, according to the observations of Darwin, a case in point. The same authority has shown conclusively enough, by a series of carefully conducted experiments, that, in the case of the common Primrose, more capsules and larger seeds are developed as the result of Cross-fertilisation than when Self-fertilisation obtains. Therefore, unless the aid of the cultivator be called into requisition, in some cases Insect visits are absolutely essential, and in others of considerable value, to the species.