FLASHLIGHTS ON NATURE 



bubbles, each enclosing an uninjured soldanella 

 bud in its centre. The reason is that the heat 

 from the flower keeps the enclosed air just above 

 freezing-point ; and so long as it is not actually 

 frozen soldanella is indifferent to the cold of its 



surroundings. 



Gradually, in 

 this way, the little 

 buds manage to 

 bore their way to 

 the surface and 

 to the sunshine 

 on the outside of 

 the ice-sheet. At 

 last the stalk melts 

 its path out, and 

 a flower appears 

 on the top, in the 

 centre of a small 

 cup-shaped or 

 saucer-shaped de- 

 pression (No. 4). 

 The exquisite 

 blue bells are 

 thus seen bloom- 

 ing in profusion, 



apparently out of the ice itself, or as if stuck into 

 it. Unless you looked close, and noticed that their 

 stems came from the ground beneath, you might 

 even imagine they were rooted in the crystal mass 

 of the neve. The edge of the snow-field in early 

 spring is often pierced and riddled by hundreds 



NO. 4. FLOWER REACHING THE SUR- 

 FACE OF THE ICE AND OPENING IN 

 A CUP-SHAPED DEPRESSION. 



