78 PICTURING MIRACLES 



ported and now, the missing link in the chain of 

 life being present, the fig blossom receiving the pol- 

 len with the aid of its necessary tiny insect, matures 

 and ripens into delicious fruit. 



The Milkweed is another interesting flower to fol- 

 low through its method of pollenization. It has sev- 

 eral insect friends, among them the fly, the bee and 

 a small grayish moth. All of them will be seen 

 working on the blossom and often in the afternoon 

 hours when the insect is tired you will notice dead 

 ones on the flower, which is the clue to their 

 methods. Try to pull one of these dead insects off 

 and you will find one or both legs are caught in the 

 V-shaped cracks between the five parts of the blos- 

 som and, when removed, there are two little yellow 

 bags held together with a thread and fastened to 

 their legs. The insects unless very tired at the end of 

 a day's hard work gathering honey could pull them- 

 selves loose and the pinhead sized bags containing 

 several hundred grains of pollen would dangle from 

 their legs. Instinct compels the insect to continue 

 work on the same kind of flower and those saddle 

 bags of pollen dangling from his legs are, to say the 

 least, a nuisance, so when he alights on the next 

 milkweed blossom he thrashes around until the bags 

 are broken open and the pollen scattered over the 

 receptive stigma. 



