36 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



visits the flower and entangles his 

 shoulders. As he struggles to free him- 

 self, he tears the anthers asunder and 

 from them receives a charge of pollen 

 on his hairy coat. While the anthers 

 are yet united, they hold the long pis- 

 til upright and away from the bee, but 

 after the first insect visit, the pistil falls 

 toward the throat of the flower where 

 it is sure to receive any pollen that may 

 be brought. 



Apparently the nightshade {Solanum 

 dulcamara) seems to wish to keep all 

 its pollen, for it is enclosed in a kind 

 of balloon formed by the anthers united 

 around the protruding pistil. But as 

 the bee alights on this balloon he com- 

 presses it and, like a puff-ball, it shoots 

 out the pollen in a cloud that dusts 

 the underside of his body, and is by 

 him carried away and deposited on the 

 protruding pistil of another flower. 



Grass pink, {Calopogon pulchclliis) 

 differs from other orchids as its ovary 

 is not twisted ; hence its pollen is be- 

 low the column and its stigma above. 

 The bee, attracted by its magenta pink 

 color, and its scent of raspberries, 

 alights on the lower sepal and, crawl- 

 ing under the column in search of 

 honey, withdraws with one or two of the 

 pollen masses on his back. How shall 

 these reach the stigma of another 

 flower? The mechanism for accom- 

 plishing this is ingeniously simple. 

 The bee aims at the showy blotch of 

 red and yellow velvet on the erect 

 column of the next flower, clasps it and 

 with his weight drags it down. He 

 falls with his pollen laden back against 

 the sensitive stigma, and the flower is 

 fertilized and will bear seeds. 



would be difficult to find a more inspir- 

 ing subject or one more calculated to 

 arouse interest in nature and to stimu- 

 late those who already know the delight 

 in such studies. 



The Mysteries of the Flowers. 



The former generation of naturalists, 

 and especially general nature lovers 

 and the young folks, were delighted by 

 William Hamilton Gibson's models 

 showing the mechanism of flowers. 



As previously announced. Mr. Her- 

 bert W. Faulkner of Washington. Con- 

 necticut, is continuing that work in lec- 

 tures that are delighting audiences 

 everywhere. As an active member of 

 The Agassiz Association, he is assist- 

 ing us in our general purpose for the 

 diffusion of knowledge, by supplying 

 a series of illustrated articles for this 

 magazine. The second of the series 

 appears in the current number. It 



Nature a Resource in Old Age. 



A generation or more ago every stu- 

 dent and lover of nature was deeply in- 

 terested in the writings of E. P. Roe. 

 Our older readers remember this, and 

 especially their delight in his "Nature's 

 Serial Story." These books are also 

 read with delight by the present gene- 

 ration. 



We have recently received interest- 

 ing personal letters from his sister. 

 Miss Mary A. Roe of Watertown, New 

 York, in one of which she writes : 



"I am an old woman now, and most 

 of my generation are gone but I am 

 just as interested in life of all kinds 

 as in the past. I also hope when I too 

 pass Beyond it will be the opening of 

 another and wider door into God's 

 great Universe." 



She kindly sends us a photograph of 

 herself in her garden. 



The frivolous things of life do not 

 afford those resources for later years 

 that the observation of real things 

 stores up for us, those wonderful, beau- 

 tiful and interesting things that crowd 

 the world around us. It should be en- 

 couraging to every young person or to 

 the older worker in nature to note how 

 nature has been a lifelong resource to 

 this accomplished lady. 



Personal Observations of the Larger 

 California Insects. 



BY MISS MARY A. ROIv, WATHRTOWN, 

 NKW YORK. 



Among the many tourists who have 

 visited Southern California during the 

 past year, few probably have seen 

 living specimens of the large insects 

 in that semi-tropical country. 



During a residence there of about 

 three years I had opportunities for ob- 

 serving some rather unusual varieties. 

 Nearly everyone feels a repugnance for 

 spiders, and what I had heard of the 

 big tarantulas (Mygalc), the most poi- 

 sonous of the tribe, made me dread to 

 come in contact with them. 



One evening about sunset, as I was 

 walking on the carriage drive of a country 

 home, I was startled by the sight of a 

 tarantula leisurely proceeding a short 



