BUDS 



Plants try to protect themsdves again8t these pests 

 chiefly by means of sticky or long hairs, by a thick skin, or by 

 unpleasant tasting or smelling substances. But it is to insects 

 such as lady-birds and others which devour the green-fly 

 that they owe a deep debt of gratitude. In particular, there 

 are certain parasitic insects which lay their eggs in their 

 bodies. Not only so, but it is known that the eggs of some 

 other insects are laid in the egg of the green-Jly^ and in one 

 instance it has been found that yet another insect laid its 

 egg in the egg of the parasite ! 



Some of the most interesting objects in nature are the 

 buds in which, all neatly packed and stowed away, the young 

 leaves and flowers remain awaiting the warm breath of 

 spring. They are most interesting to examine : one finds 

 series after series of overlapping scales which cover one 

 another in the most ingenious way. No two are exactly 

 alike, but each seems to have been moulded exactly to the 

 proper shape. There is no waste anywhere, no useless ex- 

 penditure of material. Very often turpentine or resin or a 

 sticky gum seals up the joining of the scales. Every possible 

 precaution seems to have been taken by nature. Neither 

 rain nor snow can enter a winter bud. Neither can the cold 

 of winter penetrate to the inside where the baby leaves and 

 flower petals are cosily and tightly coiled up. But observe in 

 the very earliest warm days of spring an extraordinary little 

 insect, which has wakened up after its own winter sleep in 

 the moss or lichen covering the rough and crannied bark of 

 an old apple tree. This is the Apple-blossom Weevil, a 

 beetle only about quarter of an inch in length, but with a 

 curious snout or proboscis half the length of its body. This 

 creature proceeds to the bud, and fixing its legs firmly, pro- 

 ceeds to bore a hole through the scales into the middle of 



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