82 A NEW ZEALAND NATURALIST'S CALENDAR. 



to be touched for months, and lo ! in three weeks it has 

 grown a small crop of these weeds, which repay your 

 attempts to pull them out by scattering a fresh crop of 



Cardamine hirsuta is both indigenous and introduced. 

 In this respect it resembles the dandelion, sow-thistle, and 

 a few other plants. In all these cases, however, the plant 

 which we meet with in our gardens is the introduced form, 

 which is just as aggressive in its own way as is the European 

 settler when compared with the indigenous Maori. The 

 native Cardamine occurs commonly in the bush-covered 

 parts of the Town Belt ; it is a much more slender plant 

 than the introduced form, and has always four white petals 

 and six stamens. It has not developed the bad habits of 

 its European relative. 



III. 



While writing the foregoing lines I have been sitting in 

 the shade (for the morning is oppressively warm), and at 

 intervals watching the insects which visit the masses of 

 French and African marigolds and single dahlias which 

 are in flower a few yards away. The commonest insect 

 just now is a drone fly (Erlstalis tenax),* It is very like 

 a thick-bodied hive bee in appearance, but is easily recog- 

 nised by its two wings, whereas the Bee has four. It is 

 also a much more deliberate insect, going slowly over the 

 flower heads as if enjoying itself in a leisurely manner. Its 

 curious rat-tailed larva is very well known ; it occurs in 

 stagnant water, in ditches and pools, in the earlier part of 

 the season. The honey bees have taken advantage of these 

 warm days to come out in considerable numbers. They 

 always mean business, and go about the flowers as if they 

 were in a hurry. There is no such thing as cultured 

 leisure among bees ; they work for work's sake, and take 

 life very seriously. 



Every now and then a humble bee comes bustling along. 

 These insects particularly affect the dahlia flowers, but 

 seldom visit the marigolds, At this season of the year it is 



* Introduced from Britain. 



