"Blossom Hosts cind Insect Guests 



Those " shrinkin' hearts" of the barberry blos- 

 som, so lonof the wonder and amusement of 

 children, including many children of adult growth, 

 have, so far as I know, herein found their first and 

 only historian — historian, but not interpreter ; for 

 neither Hosea Biglow nor his literary parent, James 

 Russell Lowell, ever dreamed of the significance of 

 this strange spectacle in the " shrinkin' hearts" of 

 the barberry bloom when surprised with a point of a 

 pin. 



But the bee can tell us all about it. He has 

 known this singular trick in the barberry for ages, 

 and kept the secret all to himself. It is his visits 

 in May and June to the "shrinkin' hearts" of the 

 golden flowers that produce the clusters of brilliant 

 scarlet acid berries of September, as we shall pres- 

 ently see. 



At Fig. I I have shown a plan of the barberry 

 blossom seen from below, its yellow sepals and 

 petals open, and opposite each of the inner set, and 

 pressed against it, a stamen. This stamen is shown 

 below in three stages — closed, partly open, and 

 fully open — the queer little ear-shaped lids finally 

 drawn up, showing the pollen-pockets, and also 

 withdrawing a portion of the pollen from the 

 cavity. At the center is seen the circular tip of 



3S 



