Many small flowers may be examined with low magnifications. When we examine them thus, we shall probably realise for the first time how beautiful are many of these seemingly inconspicuous blossoms. Grass flowers are always interesting; they are not ornamental it is true, but that does not detract from their interest. There is one part of each flower known as the stigma; it is the part on which the pollen grain must be placed in order that seeds may be formed. The pollen grains are taken to the stigmas in many ways, but the most usual agencies are insects and wind. In the case of grasses, wind is the agency and for that reason the stigmas of grass flowers are feathery, so that they can easily hold the pollen grains carried to them by the lightest breeze. We shall probably see many pollen grains entangled in the feathery stigma of the flower we are examining. In the flowers of other plants we shall find, when we magnify them, that there are all manner of contrivances on the stigmas, all designed for holding the pollen grains; hairs, knobs, hooks and the like. An interesting collection could be made of various pollen grains, which are easily obtained by merely dusting the anthers of flowers on to a clean, dry slide. They are varied in shape, colour and size; some are smooth, some studded with spines, others again, those of the _Mallow_ for example, have little lids which open when the pollen grain germinates. The germination of pollen grains is easily observed under the microscope, by putting a few of the grains in an exceedingly weak solution of sugar and water. The vigil may be a long one, but if the pollen grains are ripe and fresh, and the sugary solution sufficiently weak, the patience of the microscopist will be rewarded by the observance of the bursting of the pollen grain’s coat and the outgrowth of the pollen tube. Other pollen grains worthy of examination, are those of various lilies, of _Eschscholtzia_ and of _Scotch Fir_; the last named have curious little air-bladders, for the purpose of rendering them more buoyant. Many lowly plants thrive in weak sugar solutions, after the manner of pollen grains. The yeast plant is one of them. A very small portion of yeast, in a drop of sugar solution, will show us one of the simplest methods of vegetable reproduction. Yeast is a fungus and it is also a plant composed of only one cell. Under the microscope, it appears as a colourless oval body. The sugar solution causes it to multiply and, after the lapse of a little time, most of the yeast plants will be seen to bear outgrowths, called buds, which grow larger and larger till, at length, they break away from the parent plants and start a separate existence. Sometimes, when these plants are increasing very rapidly, the buds will bear smaller buds and these again still smaller ones till a fairly long chain of yeast plants is formed.