SEEING BY AID OF THE LENS. 



297 



with as much care as her big things, per- 

 haps with more. The two wings on each 

 side of the bee's body must act together. 

 Nature might have given the bee onl) 

 one broad wing" on each side but she did 

 not. Now what can she do to make the 

 two act as one. when the bee so desires? 

 The insect must move and labor in nar- 

 row places. To have one wide wing 

 standing: stifflv out on each side would be 



WING OF HONEYBEE, SHOWING KOOKS 

 (ON UPPER EDGE). 



disastrous, for such appendages in such 

 narrow places would soon become torn 

 and ragged and such an arrangement 

 would in time result in undesirable modi- 

 fications of the bee"s structure. 1 cannot 

 imagine how I should go about the solv- 

 ing of such a problem, yet nature has 

 accomplished it in so simple a way that 

 almost anybody might have done it if 

 he had onl}' thought of it. But nature 

 has turned under the inner margin of the 

 front wing so as to form a permanent 

 fold, while on the outer edge of the 

 lower or hindmost wing she has placed 

 a series id* hooks. "As the anterior (up- 

 per) wing moves outward into position 

 for flight, its down turned plait passes 

 over the upper surface of the lower wing 

 and is caught by the upturned hooks; 

 and now the two wings, wedded into 

 one, strike the air: but at the moment 

 the fixing insect settles, these, by falling- 

 back into position, become immediately 

 free, since the plait simply slips from 

 the hooks, and the wings take up their 

 superposed position." Simple, isn t it 1 

 And isn't its simplicitv beautiful? 



Another advantage in such an ar- 

 rangement is that since the bee's wings 

 move at so prodigious a rate (some- 

 times reaching four hundred and forty 

 vibrations a second) a single narrow 

 wing would not afford sufficient lilting 

 power; but when the surface is more 

 than doubled by hooking two together 

 a different result is attained, the united 

 wide membrane beats the air with a 

 musical hum, the bee soars aloft and 

 vanishes. It is only matter of a fold 

 and a row of hook's. 



"How well nature rewards looking 

 into even the smallest matters!" 



A SUV LITTLE FUNGUS. 



BY MISS W 



C. KNOW I. iiS, WASHINGTON, 

 Co.\ XI-X'TKT'T. 



A never failing trout brook which 

 flows through shady woods and across 

 green meaaows has guided me to many 

 interesting discoveries. It did so recent- 

 ly. After tramping through the under- 

 brush one August day, I was about to 

 cross this little stream when the shadow 

 of a bird's wing in the alder thicket 

 startled me, and as 1 paused to watch 

 the play of sunlight on the yellowing 

 cinnamon ferns which grew along the 

 bank my attention was attracted by a 

 small orange colored club that peeped 



THE FUNGUS GROWING ON AN INSECT 



CHRYSALIS. 

 Fastened to a. white card by two threads. 



