46 FLASHLIGHTS ON NATURE 



the moss when frosts begin to kill her worker 

 sisters, or as the squirrel retires into his hole in a 

 tree at the approach of December. Ancestral 

 instinct teaches the one just as much as it teaches 

 the other ; and those who have closest watched 

 the habits and manners of plants have the highest 

 respect for their industry and intelligence. 



Looked at from this point of view, we may con- 

 sider indeed that every seed, bulb, or tuber is not 

 merely a reservoir of material for future growth, 

 but also a reservoir of fuel for supplying the heat 

 necessary to the first stages of sprouting or ger- 

 mination. And without elaborating this question 

 further, I may add that if you will examine closely 

 many early spring buds and flowers, especially 

 such as willow and hazel catkins, you will find not 

 only that they are formed over winter and enclosed 

 in warm overcoats to protect them from the cold, 

 but also that they grow in spring before the air is 

 warm enough to stimulate growth directly or in 

 other words, that they depend in part for heat on 

 the consumption of their own internal fuels. 



