"Blossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



these curious orchids, known and classified long 

 ere Darwin sought the secret of their wondrous 

 forms. 



We cannot all be scientists or explorers, but we 

 can at least learn to lend an answering, intelligent 

 welcome to those little faces that smile at us from 

 among the grass and withered leaves, that crowd 

 humbly about our feet, and are too often idly 

 crushed beneath our heel. The darkest patii- 

 less forest is relieved of its gloom to him who 

 can nod a greeting with every footstep ; who knows 

 the pale dicentra that nods to him in return ; who 

 can call by name the peeping lizard among the 

 moss, the pale white pipe among the matted leaves, 

 or even the, covering mould among the damp 

 debris. 



And to him who knows the arcana beneath a 

 stone ; who has learned with reverence how the 

 clover goes to sleep, how the fireweed spins its silken 

 floss, or how the spider floats its web from tree to 

 tree ; who has seen the brilliant cassida, the palpi- 

 tating gem upon the leaf, change from burnished 

 gold to iridescent pearl, or has watched the won- 

 drous resurrection of the imago bursting from its 

 living tomb — to such a one there is in all the length 

 and breadth of Nature no such thing as exile, no 



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