346 THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE IN THE FOREST. 
into the liquid which covers the bottom, and wetting its wings, is un-- 
able to use them. Look into the cup and you will see a dozen bees 
swimming round and round, or vainly trying to climb the slippery sides, 
and if it is the second day after opening, one or two may be seen 
drowned. It was never the intention of the flower, however, that their 
lives should be sacrificed, but on the contrary, that they should escape, 
and in doing so perform the office for which the whole contrivance has 
been arranged. Under the flags, where the column comes near but 
does not actually touch the cup, is a narrow opening, through which 
the bee can push its way out. In doing this it has to use sufficient force 
to widen the gap, which opens like a spring door, when it comes in con- 
tact with the pollen case, ruptures it, and carries off the male organ on 
its back. Not being able to fly, there is nothing to be done but to 
crawl over the flower spike, where, heedless of its former trouble, it 
soon finds itself inside another flower. In making its way out, the pol- 
len masses are rubbed on the stigma, and the ovary fertilized, after 
which it may carry out the pollen masses of this flower in turn to fertil- 
ize another. - - - 
Another side of the struggle for life is exemplified on the sand reefs. 
Extending for miles, large expanses of white ridges vary the monot- 
ony of dense forest and stream. Here and there, between clumps of 
low bushes, the open space glares with reflected light and heat, while 
the sand itself is so hot that the barefooted Indian is obliged to peel 
two pieces of bark to protect the soles of his feet against it. Without 
such an excessive rainfall as that of Guiana, these reefs would be quite 
barren, but under the circumstances, the hardier shrubs and a few 
trees manage to exist. Where forest trees have succeeded in obtaining 
a footing they push their roots far down below the surface, where the 
sand is moist and cool, but finding little food, they naturally grow 
much slower and are more hardy than the same species in the dense 
forest. For this reason timber from such places is always highly val- 
ued, as being free from sap. Here it is no longer a fight with each 
other, but a hard struggle for bare existence. Everything is arid and 
dry, the shrubs being strong and sturdy, though small, while the few 
herbaceous plants have leaves especially fitted to their surroundings. 
Try to dig up one of these and you may scrape away for many feet 
before you get beyond the tap root. Here, in contrast with the “high 
wood,” annuals are seen during the rainy season. Not having been 
able to develop any other special provision, they flower and die, leav- 
ing their seeds to germinate after the drought isover. Orchids abound 
everywhere upon the low shrubs, while several genera have succeeded 
in accommodating themselves to the sand itself. Here is a Cyrtopo- 
dium with a magnificent panicle of yellow flowers, but whata fine pseu- 
do bulb is this! Three to four feet long, and thick and fleshy, it con- 
tains a store of food against all contingencies. Unlike its relations of 
