A WREN INCIDENT. 29 



thing very unlike a stamen ; one of the inner stamens has 

 been suppressed and the other two reduced to sessile an- 

 thers ; the three pistils have coalesced into one, and a 

 slightly three-lobed stigma is the only present reminder of 

 the former triple character. The lip has become an in- 

 sect trap in which visitors are temporarily detained and 

 from which they can escape in onl}^ one way ; the outer 

 stamen has become a wall to bar their exit by any but that 

 particular way ; the anthers are so located with reference 

 to the stigmas that they cannot be touched until that has 

 been passed by. 



Yet with all these transformations and adaptations the 

 genus Cypripedium has undergone the least change of all 

 the genera in the family, and it appears to be almost the 

 only remaining representative of an early stage in the evo- 

 lution of what may be called the orchid plan. 



A Wren Incident. 



BY JANNETT MCINTOSH. 



In front of our dining room windows, facing south, was 

 a low appletree. A small wooden house suitable for the 

 wrens had been placed in a notch of the tree, and we were 

 anxious they should occupy it. In the other trees were 

 fastened larger boxes for the bluebirds. 



Although our home was suburban and the field and 

 woods stretched far away to the southward, the detestable 

 English sparrow voices were heard as clamorous and quar- 

 relsome as in the city streets. Quite naturally they, too, 

 liked the houses provided for the wrens, and the bluebirds, 

 being less timid, drove them awa3\ A pair of wrens be- 

 gan building, but were unable to make as resolute a stand. 

 I therefore became their champion and literally fought 

 . with sticks and stones for several days before the sparrows 



