134 MYSTERIES OF THE FLOWERS 



flower, have been surprised by the prompt and busi- 

 nesslike way in which he plunged into the opening, 

 as if he made the flower his special home. Then it 

 was amusing to see what struggles he made and 

 what antics he performed in order to get free. He 

 would swing the flower from side to side, and bulge 

 the pouch here and there, almost tearing it to 

 shreds. Then, at length he would calm down, ap- 

 parently think over the situation, and seem to spy 

 the daylight in a narrow flue above his head and 

 decide that by that road lay his path to liberty. 



But our section of the lady's slipper will show 

 that the passageway is partly barred by two im- 

 pediments. The column bends forward and down- 

 ward in such a way as to place the stigmatic surface 

 in the narrow opening; and, higher up, two pollen 

 masses grow just where they will nearly close the 

 narrow exit. 



Our bee, then, if he has any pollen on his back 

 must rub it upon the stigma, and in any case he 

 must take some from one anther as he squeezes his 

 body painfully out through the opening above. In 

 spite of the discomfort the bee has evidently experi- 

 enced he repeats it in visits to other flowers, as we 

 know from the number of seed-pods that later in the 

 season we find on a patch of these plants ; and seeds 

 can be created in no other way, for the Cypripediu m 



