304 THE STORY-BOOK OF SCIENCE 



abundant harvest is promised. The insect is the 

 best distributor of pollen. All the flowers it visits 

 receive their share of quickening dust." 



* i It is in order to prevent the insects coming from 

 neighboring gardens and bringing pollen that you 

 have had the pumpkin blossoms covered with bags 

 of gauze?" inquired Emile. 



"Yes, my child. Without this precaution the 

 pumpkin experiment would certainly not succeed; 

 for insects come from a distance, very far perhaps, 

 and deposit on our flowers the pollen gathered from 

 other pumpkins. And very little of it is necessary ; 

 a few grains are enough to give life to an ovary. 



"To attract the insect that it needs, every flower 

 has at the bottom of its corolla a drop of sweet 

 liquor called nectar. From this liquor bees make 

 their honey. To draw it from corollas shaped like a 

 deep funnel, butterflies have a long trumpet, curled 

 in a spiral when at rest, but which they unroll and 

 plunge into the flower like a bore when they wish to 

 obtain the delicious drink. The insect does not see 

 this drop of nectar ; however, it knows that it is there 

 and finds it without hesitation. But in some flowers 

 a grave difficulty presents itself: these flowers are 

 closed tight everywhere. How is the treasure to be 

 got at, how find the entrance that leads to the nec- 

 tar? Well, these closed flowers have a signboard, a 

 mark that says clearly: Enter here." 



"You won't make us believe that!" cried Claire. 



"I am not going to make you believe anything, 

 my dear child ; I am going to show you. Look at this 

 snap-dragon blossom. It is shut tight, its two closed 



