894 



THE NATURE BOOK 



Here one may see, if the season is a 

 good one, the White Admiral butterfly 

 actually in profusion. It is no uncommon 

 sight on a warm summer's morning to see 

 as many as fifteen or twenty of these 

 magnificent butterflies flying over the 

 opening blossoms of the honeysuckle 

 and blackberr}^ How much longer they 

 will remain plentiful it is diflicult to say, 

 unless public interest can be sufficiently 

 awakened, and a strong demand be made 

 for the more strict preservation of the 

 Forest. 



In the spring of the year the drives are 

 beautiful \\'ith the blossom of the early 

 orchid {Orchis Mascula), which depends 

 for the transference of its pollen upon 



the visits of insects, and gains the 

 benefit of cross-fertihsation through their 

 agency. 



An hour or two on a sunny spring morn- 

 ing may be spent with considerable profit 

 to the lover of nature in watching the 

 insects which visit the opening blossoms 

 of this plant. The principal insect visitors, 

 to these orchids growing in the Forest 

 glades, will be found to be various species 

 of bees, and it is a most interesting sight 

 to see a bee ahght upon the lip of an 

 orchid flower and thrust its head inwards, 

 in search of the drop of nectar which hes 

 within the spur at the base of the sepals 

 of the flower. As the bee thrusts her 

 head inwards to suck the honey, she 



AN ANCIENT MONARCH OF THE FOREST ; THE KNIGHTWOOD OAK. 



