THE EVENING PRIMROSE 165 



sees one, might perch among these without a sus- 

 picion, except perhaps at the tickling of its feet 

 by the rudely touched victim. 



But these are not all the interesting features of 

 the evening primrose. It has still another curi- 

 ous secret, which has doubtless puzzled many a 

 country stroller, and which is suggested in the 

 following inquiry from a rural correspondent : 



" I read in Harper's Young People ' your piece about the 

 evening primrose, and found the little moth and the catterpilers, 

 what I never seen before ; but they is one thing what you never 

 tole us about yit. Why is it that the buds on so meny evening 

 primroses swell up so big and never open ? Some of them has 

 holes into them, but I never seen nothing cum out." 



This same question must have been mentally 

 propounded by many observers who have noted 

 this singular peculiarity of the buds two sorts of 

 buds, one of them long and slender, and with a 

 longer tube ; the other short and stout, with no 

 tube at all both of which are shown in proper 

 proportion in my illustration. It is well to con- 

 trast their outward form, and to note wherein they 

 differ. In the normal or longer bud the tube is 

 slender, and extended to a length of an inch or 

 more, while in the shorter specimen this portion 

 is reduced to about a fifth or sixth of that length, 

 while the corolla enclosed within its sepals is 

 much shortened and swollen. 



The difference in the shape and development 

 of these two buds is a most interesting study, as 



