EARLY WILD FLOWERS, CATKINS. 5 



It belongs to the Mustard family, which is character- 

 ized by four-petaled, flowers. 



The spring beauty (Claytonia Virginica) fre- 

 quently appears as early as the first of April in south- 

 ern New England and New 

 York ; its beautiful, pale, 

 pink -white blossoms veined 

 with a deeper pink, are 

 among our prettiest wild flow- 

 ers. I should expect to find the 

 Claytonia, perhaps with a bumble- 

 bee visitor tumbling over its 

 frail petals, in the rich grassy 

 borders of the road near the 

 edge of the tiny streamlet 

 that finds its way to the hollow 

 where the overflowing brook 

 hurries along. 



I have already alluded to the 

 bumblebee as " she." As a matter 

 of fact, in spring these big, golden - 

 hipped creatures are generally queen 

 bees searching for pollen and nectar. 

 The spring beauty is precisely the kind Spring Beauty. 

 of a flower which needs the visit of the 

 bumblebee ; its pistil develops the graceful, curled 

 tips (which are simply the portals leading to the im- 



