134 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [13:4— April, 1917 



invention of man, the guests depart minus more or less wealth. In 

 the "Skimk Cabbage Hotel, Ltd.", we find the parting guest 

 dusted all over with pollen which may be used to pay for room and 

 board at the next hotel visited. Anyone who has spent time and 

 other things in a modem city hotel can readily appreciate the 

 advantages of this obscure and out of the way swamp hostelry. 



In spite of all of these inducements to patrons, there is always 

 the possibility that the desired guests will not arrive and when one 

 looks at a patch of skunk cabbage he can easily realize that there 

 may be considerable competition. Fortunately for the skunk 

 cabbage, everything is not absolutely dependent upon insect 

 visitors. If no guests arrive, those plants in which the stamens 

 show first can still keep on a running basis for we find that the 

 pollen from some flowers in the head will fall on the pistil tips of 

 other flowers in the same head. In that way we see that there is 

 little danger of failure in gaining the desired result. 



After the pollen has been deposited on the pistil either by a 

 visiting insect guest or by dusting from neighboring flowers in the 

 same head, we find that guests are no longer welcome. The hotel 

 begins to close its doors. Undoubtedly any man-made hotel would 

 of necessity close its doors too if it were to run on the same plan. 

 At any rate, the hood bends down and the regular well-known 

 leaves appear. All summer long these leaves work laying up food 

 both underground and in the treasure vaults where the pollen has 

 been deposited. If we should look for the remains of the spring 

 flower we will find that it has transformed into a sort of berry 

 sunken in the fleshy part which made up the ball for the most part. 

 These seeds often enter into the menu of some wandering muskrat 

 or better still grow into a new skunk cabbage plant. 



The whole plant seems to live an unattractive life. There are 

 no brightly colored flowers for us to pick and the odor certainly 

 doesn't make a favorable impression upon our noses. But then, 

 the skunk cabbage doesn't grow for our particular benefit. If it 

 weren't for the odor we probably should never notice the plant at 

 all. Muskrats, insects and creatures of that sort can find plenty 

 of interest in the homely plant. There is interest and to spare for 

 us there too if we only go after it. Any effort devoted to finding 

 out some of the secrets which it holds will be well repaid and our 

 concept of the skunk cabbage will be much more pleasant than the 

 first impression we get by means of our noses. 



