PERSONALITY OF PLANTS 
They adhere firmly. When he departs he has 
two bulbous ornaments for a crest. At first 
they stand erect, but as he flies, the air dries 
them and they incline forward on curved stems. 
When he is ready for his next cup of honey, 
they are hanging down in front of his eyes like 
a new kind of pawnbroker’s sign. It is no mere 
happenstance that in this new position the pol- 
len sacs are deposited on the stigma of the sec- 
ond flower’s pistil. By such ingenious marriage 
customs, the Orchids have become a dominant 
family in plantdom. They are in the ascen- 
dency even in the tropics, where their frail 
bodies have to compete with hosts of plants 
which are physically much more vigorous. 
Between the Yucca and the Yucca Moth ex- 
ists a wonderful life-long partnership for the 
purpose of furthering the reproductive pro- 
cesses of both. Surely, Nature moves in mys- 
terious ways. 
Insects are the chief marriage priests of the 
plant world, but in the tropics they are aided 
and abetted by Humming-Birds, Sun-Birds and 
Lories, which are all provided with long, tubu- 
lar tongues. 
[90] 
