IN FIELD AND WOOD 



But with the teazel the flame of bloom is first kin- 

 dled in the middle ; to-day you see the head with this 

 purple zone or girdle about it, and in a day or two 

 you see two purple girdles with an open space be- 

 tween them, and these move, the one up and the 

 other down, till the head stands with a purple base 

 and a purple crown with a broad space of neutral 

 green between them. 



This is a sample of the small but significant facts 

 in nature that interest me exceptional facts that 

 show how nature at times breaks away from a fixed 

 habit, a beaten path, so to speak, and tries a new 

 course. She does this in animal life too. 



Huxley mentions a curious exception to the general 

 plan of the circulation of the blood. In all animals 

 that have a circulation the blood takes one definite 

 and invariable direction except in the case of one 

 class of marine animals, called ascidians; in them 

 the heart, after beating a certain number of times, 

 stops and begins to beat the opposite way, so as to 

 reverse the current; then in a moment or two it 

 changes again and drives the blood in the other 

 direction. 



All things are possible with nature, and these 

 unexpected possibilities or departures from the gen- 

 eral plan are very interesting. It is interesting to 

 know that any creature can come into being without 

 a father, but with only a grandfather, yet such is 

 the case. The drone in the hive has no father; the 

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