CONTENTS 



PAGES 



the Body of the Bee—" Keys" in the Process of Manu- 

 facture — The Seedling Plant within the ' ' Key " — Develop- 

 ment of " Wings " — The Whirling Flight , . . 17 — 30 



CHAPTER III 



THE COMMON ARUM, OR CUCKOO-PINT 

 (Arum maculatum) 



Science reveals Economy in the Beauties of Nature — A Func- 

 tion for every Detail associated with the Organism — The 

 Quaint Form of the Inflorescence — A Veritable Army of 

 Midge-flies within — How the Arum starts Life — De- 

 velopment — Function of the Leaves — Meaning of the 

 Quaint Floral Structure — The Midge-fly — Drunken Orgies 

 within the Bloom — Buried in the Yellow Pollen Dust — 

 Temperature inside the Bloom — Effects of the Cooler Air 

 — The Reason of the Arum's Generosity — Arum not a 

 Flower — Structural Details — The Purple Club — How the 

 Midges are Entrapped — The Flowers Mature — Cross- 

 fertilisation — Intoxicating Nectar — Showers of Pollen — 

 How the Pollen is Conveyed — Taking in the Signpost — 

 Brilliant Red Berries — A Self-contradictory Theory — 

 Thrushes' Development of a Power to Resist Poison — A 

 Successful Plant more to Nature than a Foolish Animal . 31 —46 



CHAPTER IV 



CATKINS 



All Forest Trees bear Flowers — Plants that do not appear to 

 produce Flowers — Fruit Necessarily a Product of the 

 Flov/er— Hazel Catkins and Hedge-nuts — The Catkin a 

 Pendent Spike of Male Flowers — Female Catkins— Bee and 

 Catkins— Insects not desired — Little Shelves loaded with 

 Pollen — Wind and Clouds of Pollen— Structure beauti- 

 fully adapted for Action of the Wind — Pollen blown to 

 Distant Towns— Size of Pollen Grains— Stigmas and Pol- 

 hnation— Their Crimson Colour— Germination of the Pollen 



X 



