"Blossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



as though in eager response to the touch of some 

 wandering sprite, until the darkness is Ht up with 

 their luminous galaxy — that beautiful episode of 

 blossom consciousness and hope so picturesquely 

 described by Keats. 



" A tuft of evening primroses 

 O'er which the Avind may hover till it dozes, 

 O'er which it well might take a pleasant sleep, 

 But that 'tis ever startled by the leap 

 Of buds into ripe flowers." 



Nor is it necessary to brave the night air to wit- 

 ness this sudden transformation. A cluster of the 

 flowers placed in a vase beneath an evening lamp 

 will reveal the episode, though robbed of the poetic 

 attribute of their natural sombre environment and 

 the murmuring response of the twilight moth, a com- 

 panion to which its form, its color, and its breath 

 of perfume and impulsive greeting are but the ex- 

 pression of a beautiful divine affinity. 



The primrose presents the peculiar phenomena of 

 two kinds of buds, as shown in the accompanying 

 drawing. 



Regarding these varying buds, I once received the 

 following letter : 



" I read in ' Harper's Young People ' your piece 

 about the evening primrose, and found the little 

 moth and the catterpilers, what I never seen before ; 



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