174 BOULDER REVERIES. 



Upon the flowers of the brunella a small 

 brown hesperid butterfly settles and unfolding 

 its proboscis, prods amidst the petals for honey. 

 The butterfly is not a pirate for it takes only 

 that which the plant is willing and anxious to 

 give. In exchange it carries particles of pollen 

 from the stamens of one blossom to the pistils 

 of another. 



I flip a short piece of twig onto the surface 

 of the pool within a half foot of the waiting 

 spider. Instantly he makes a lunge over the 

 surface of the water toward it, tests it with his 

 palpi, then darts back to his perch on the float- 

 ing leaf and becomes as motionless as before. 

 Had the twig been a grasshopper or some other 

 form of insect life which had leaped or fallen 

 into the pool, his vigil would have been re- 

 warded; his dinner would have come to him. 

 So wait the city pirates for the coming of their 

 prey from the farms and workshops of the land. 

 They have only to wait, sharpening, meanwhile, 

 their wits which serve them as fangs ; for in due 

 time their prey will come. 



