"Blossom Hosts and Insect Gnests 



door, and are immediately greeted at the threshold 

 with a quart of sulphur thrown into your face. Yet 

 this is precisely the experience of this patient little 

 insect, which manifests no disposition to retaliate 

 with the concealed weapon which on much less 

 provocation he is quick to employ. Here he comes, 

 eager for the fray. He alights upon one of the 

 tiny bells scarce half the size of his body. Creep- 

 ins: down beneath it, he inserts his tonofue into the 

 narrowed opening. Instantly a copious shower of 

 dust is poured down upon his face and body. But 

 he has been used to it all his life, and by heredity 

 he knows that this is Andromeda's peculiar whim, 

 and is content to humor it for the sweet recom- 

 pense which she bestows. The nectar drained, the 

 insect, as dusty as a miller, visits another flower, but 

 before he enters must of necessity first pay his toll 

 of pollen to the drooping stigma which barely pro- 

 trudes beneath the blossom's throat, and the expect- 

 ant seed-pod above welcomes the good tidings with 

 visions of fruition. 



And how beautiful is the minute mechanical 

 adaptation by which this end is accomplished ! 

 This species of Andromeda is a shrub of about 

 four feet in height, its blossoms being borne in 

 close panicled clusters at the summit of the 



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