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Show [ 17 ] Seeks with unfieady ftep the ihelter'd vale, And turns her blufhing beauties from the gale.- Six rival youths~ with [oft concern imprefs' d, ISS Cahn all her fears, and charn1 her ·cares to reft.- So ihines at eve the fun-illumin' cl fane, Lifts its bright cro(c:;, and waves its golden vane ,; hang t heir apertures downwards, as many of the lilies; in thofe the pifl:il, when at maturity, ,is longer than the ll:amens ; and by this pendant attitude of the be'! I, when the anthers burll: .. their dull: falls on the ll:igma; and thefe are at the fame time fheltered as with an umbrella from rain and dews. But, as a free expofure to the air is ncceffary for their fecundation, the ll:yle and filaments in many of thefe flowers continue to g row longer after the bell is open, and hang down below its rim. In others, as in the Martagon, the bell is deeply divicled, and the divilions are reflected upwards, that they may not prevent the accefs of air, and at the fame time afford fome fheltcr from perpendicular rain or dew. Other beU-flowers, as the Hemerocallis and Amaryllis, have their bells nodding only, as it were, or hanging obliquely towards the horizon; which, as their fiems are flender, turn like a weathercock from the wind, .and thus very effectually prefervc their inclofed ftamens and anthers from the rain and cold. Many of thefe flowers, both before and after their feafon of fecundation, erect their heads perpendicular to the horizon, like the Meadia, which cannot be explained from mere mechanifm. The Amaryllis Forlnofiffima js a flower of the lafl:-mentioncd kind, and affordS"an agreeable example of art in the vegetable economy. 1. The pill:il is of gr.cat length compared with the fl:amens; and this I fup.pofe to have been the mofl: uncJ1angeable part of the flower, as in Meadia, which fee. 2. To counteract this circumfl:ance, the pill:il and framens are made to .decline downwards, that the prolific.odufl: might fall from the anthers on the ll.igma. 3· To produce this effcel, and to fccure it when produced, the ·coral is lacerated, contrary to what occurs .in other flowers of this genus, and the lowcfl: divifion with the two next lowell: ones arc wrapped clofely over the ll:yle and filaments, binding them forcibly down lower towards the horizon than the ufual inclination of the bell in this genm, and thus cocnitutes a mofl elegant flower. There is another contriva nce for this purpofe in the Hernerocallis Flava: the long pifl: il oft en is bent fomewhat l ike the capital letter N, wi h ddign to lhorten it, and th us to bring the iligma among{t the anthers. n |