Huoust 139 



the gale and swung in their aerial cradles quite 

 unharmed. 



Another point of interest is that the bright azure 

 of their upper wings, which would have made them 

 a conspicuous mark for a passing bird to feast upon, 

 was entirely concealed whilst they were thus at rest, 

 the wings being closely folded and bent down, so that 

 the finely spotted under-wings alone were seen, and 

 made the tiny butterfly look like a part of the grass 

 itself. 



The calm confidence of these pretty insects brought 

 to my mind a saying of Martin Luther, as he called 

 attention to a young bird asleep upon a spray. 

 ' This little fellow has chosen his shelter, and is 

 quietly rocking himself to sleep, without a care for 

 to-morrow's lodgings, calmly holding by his little 

 twig and leaving God to think for him.' 



VARYING POSITION OF LEAVES 



A long period of drought is now rather seriously 

 affecting vegetation. Without moisture, the roots of 

 plants cannot send up the needful supplies of food 

 into the stem and leaves ; exhaustion consequently 

 ensues, and the outward sign of a starved condition is 

 seen in the drooping position of the leaves. 



Where the leaf-stalk joins the stem there is a 

 flexibility of tissue which admits of the leaf being 

 raised or lowered. In some trees and plants there 

 exists at the base of the leaf stalk (or petiole) a 

 swollen articulation which is called a pulvinus. It 

 it almost like a hinge, and enables the leaf to hang 

 down or rise to an entirely upright position. 



We may see this hinge in action by touching a 



