CATKINS AND ALMOND-BLOSSOM. 35 



be very slight ; for the leaves would interfere with the 

 passage of the pollen. But by coming out in early 

 spring, before the foliage has begun to burst its buds, 

 and when the winds are strongest, the catkins stand the 

 best possible chance of fulfilling their special functions. 

 A March nor'-easter whistling through the naked boughs 

 is almost sure to carry a grain or two at least of the 

 golden dust from one tree to the other, and so enable 

 the alders, beeches, and hornbeams to set their seed in 

 safety. 



With the crocuses and almonds the case is somewhat 

 different, yet alike in ultimate principle. These are 

 insect-fertilised flowers, and by flowering so early they 

 catch the bees in the beginning of spring. For, on the 

 one hand, the bees must have a succession of blossoms 

 all the year round (except in mid-winter), or they could 

 never get on at all ; and the very existence of insect- 

 fertilised flowers as a body depends upon a tacit agree- 

 ment between them so to speak not to interfere with 

 one another, but to keep a continual supply for the bees 

 and butterflies from month to month : while, on the 

 other hand, the flowers themselves need each a time when 

 they can depend upon receiving their fair share in the 

 attentions of the insects or else ^hey might never set 

 their seeds at all. Some few o these early blossoms, 

 like crocuses and primroses, have leaves which can, 

 stand the frosts of March ; but others, like the elm. and; 

 the almond, have more delicate foliage, which conse- 

 quently comes out much later in the season. All these 

 spring-flowering plants lay by material somehow or other 

 the summer before for their next year's blossoms. The 

 primrose has its store of food-stuff in its thick and fleshy 



O 2 



