IBlossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



them I have observed the inflated lip most outrage- 

 ously bruised, torn, and battered, and occasionally 

 perforated by a large hole. I had observed these 

 facts in boyhood. The inference, of course, was 

 that some insect had been guilty of the mutilation ; 

 but not until I read Darwin's description of the 



cross-fertilization of this 

 species did I realize the 

 full significance of these 

 telltale evidences of the 

 escape of the imprisoned 

 insect. Since that time, 

 many years ago, I have 

 often sat long and patiently 

 in the haunt of the cypri- 

 pedium awaiting a natural 

 demonstration of its cross- 

 ^^°" ^* fertilization, but as yet 



no insect has rewarded my devotion. 



At length, in hopelessness of reward by such 

 means, I determined to see the process by more 

 prosaic methods. Gathering a cluster of the freshly 

 opened flowers, which still retained their pollen, 

 I took them to my studio. I then captured a 

 bumblebee, and forcibly persuaded him to enact 

 the demonstration which I had so long waited for 



1 60 



