34 



Flashlights ox Natirk 



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daiiflla has collected its material deliberately as 

 fuel, and uses it up (M1 purpose to melt its passaj^e. 

 It absorbs oxyj^en from the air below the snow, 

 combines it with the fuels in its own substance, 

 evolves heat from their combination, and bej^ins to 

 send up its jiodding Hower-buds throu^^h the icy 



sheet that spreads 

 above it. 



The warmth 

 the plant obtains 

 by this curious 

 process of slow 

 internal combus- 

 tion it fust em- 

 ^ ploys to melt a 

 little round hole 

 in the ice for its 

 arched flower- 

 buds (No. 2). At 

 the beginning, the 

 hollow which is 

 formed above each 

 pair of buds is 

 hemispherical or 

 dome-shaped ; the 

 stem pushes its 

 way up through a dome of air enclosed in the 

 ice ; and the water it liberates trickles down to the 

 root, thus helping to supply moisture for further 

 growth with its consequent heating. But by-and- 

 by the stem lengthens, and the bud is raised to 

 a considerable height by its continuous growth. 



NO. 2. — lU'I) BEdlNNINC. I O MKI 1' US 

 WAY I'l' THROrc.H 1( K IN A DOMi:- 

 SHAl'Kl) HOLLOW. 



