blossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



to that close study of the flowers which resulted in 

 our present knowledge of the method by which 

 they perpetuate themselves. This is a wonderful 

 scientific truth ; but the butterfly whispers that 

 there is more to learn, that there always will be 

 more to learn. 



The flower of to-day ! What an inspiration to 

 our reverential study ! What a new revelation is 

 borne upon its perfume ! Its forms and hues, what 

 invitations to our devotion ! This spot upon the 

 petal ; this peculiar quality of perfume or odor ; 

 this fringe within the throat f this stamen and pistil, 

 so close that they almost touch, and yet so widely 

 separated ! What a catechism to one who knows 

 that each and all represent an affinity to some insect 

 — a long-tongued night moth, perhaps, with whose 

 life its own is mysteriously linked through the 

 sweet bond of perfume and nectar and the sole 

 hope of posterity. 



Having found, as it were, our marvellous cross- 

 fertilized flowers, let us enter any woodland path 

 and, plucking a few blossoms, examine them more 

 closely, for we have by no means fathomed all the 

 mysteries of their adaptation to insects, or even 

 guessed to what extent it may be carried, or the 



* The fringe protects the nectar from rain. 



20 



