AN ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY. 27 



which is bent inward in such a way that he cannot possibly 

 crawl out. So down he slips again. Even if he has wings 

 he cannot fly out, for the space is not large enough for him 

 to start in, and he only buts against the opposite side of 

 his prison, just as a fowl flies against the high fence that 

 encloses the hen 3-ard. When he has become tired of try- 

 ing this avenue of escape he pokes around the bottom of 

 his cell to find some other way out. There is an opening 

 in the middle of the back of the slipper, where the edges 

 of the base of it fold the one over the other. But he can- 

 not reach this, for there is a queer looking, shield-shaped 

 screen right in the way. He is thus barred from exit by 

 the back door. He keeps on trying, however, and finally 

 discovers, on each side of the screen, a little side door, a 

 narrow opening through which, if not too large himself, 

 he squeezes and at length comes out into the great world 

 again. If, unhappily, he is too big to squeeze through, or 

 if he is not bright enough to enlarge the opening b}- eating 

 around the edges of it, or if he has been narcotized and 

 thereby weakened b}- the juices or effluvia of the plant, he 

 may remain a prisoner and the golden sphere may become 

 his tomb. 



That this calamity overtakes some visitors is evidenced 

 by the fact that the remains of the larger insects are fre- 

 quently found within. A number of these flowers collect- 

 ed this season were examined and a dead bee was found in 

 every one. In our own garden we have had a curious il- 

 lustration of the fact. Our yellow lady-slippers did not de- 

 velop well this season and but a single plant produced a 

 flower. When the blossom had withered we had the cur- 

 iosity to look into the slipper, — and what should we find 

 there but a bee, dead as a door nail ! 



When it kills the bee, the plant does tooni uch and de- 

 feats its own ends. The bees and other insects have 

 served it a good turn. The way they have done so is this : 



