THE PLANT WORLD 205 



next younger node that are destined to follow along the same road 

 twenty-four hours later. By the second evening the flowers have be- 

 come orange-yellow and lost their fragrance — at least it is lost in the 

 richness of the younger blossoms which become the only ones before 

 which the moths and humming birds pause for their evening draughts 

 of nectar. Of hundreds of such transient visitations the writer has 

 never seen an old flower considered for an instant. They appear as 

 obli\aous to them as if they were not there. It may be that the eyes of 

 the night flyers are color blind to the hybrid yellow-orange, while they 

 are sharp indeed upon the white. With thoughts like these in mind I 

 have watched the hedge-row as the darkness deepened until the old 

 flowers i^assed from sight and only the fresh white ones stood out dis- 

 tinctly against the black background of the obscured vegetation. 



Sometimes one of the quartette of blooms gets belated and comes 

 into flower along with the four upon the next younger node; but then 

 "it is out of place and the chances for visits are diminished, for the four 

 make an attractive setting, and all can be sipped before advancing to 

 the next group. The torsion common to the lonicera stems provides 

 that all the flowers present a uniformly open front; in other words, 

 they hang the banner upon the outer wall, even though it may be neces- 

 sary to turn a sharp corner in the event. 



It has been said that a new set of four flowers is not uniformly pro- 

 vided for each new day. That may be the rule, but there are dark days 

 and rainy days, and so the uniformity is more or less broken. This, 

 however, seems to be the rule — that no haK-ways are indulged in, and 

 if a bud is not quite ready to open upon one afternoon, it holds over 

 until near the close of the next, thus giving forth its x>erfume upon the 

 evening air, and at a time when night-loving insects may catch sight of 

 its showy whiteness and sip its sweets, while incidentally bringing to 

 it the pollen from some other blossom. Back of all the plan that has 

 been written upon, there lies between the lines the deeper one of vn.de 

 pollination, which iDerhaps both honeysuckle and honeysucker knew 

 nothing about, and yet is essential for the well-being of each, and suc- 

 ceeds so well in the great struggle entailed upon all living things. 



New Brunswick, New Jersey. 



