36 



Flashlights on Nature 



bubbles, eiich ciiclosin;^ :in iiiiiiijured soklanelhi 

 bud in its centre. The reason is tliat the lieat 

 from the flower keeps the enclosed air just above 

 freezin<^-point ; and so lon<f as it is not actually 

 fr(jzen soldanella is indifferent to the cold of its 



surroundings. 



Gradually, in 

 this way, the little 

 buds nianaj^e to 

 bore their way to 

 the siuface and 

 to the sunshine 

 on the outside of 

 the ice-sheet. At 

 last the stalk melts 

 its path out, and 

 a flower appears 

 on the top, in the 

 centre of a small 

 cup- shaped or 

 saucer-shaped de- 

 pression (No. 4). 

 The exquisite 

 blue bells are 

 thus seen bloom- 

 in<f in profusion, 



NO. 4. — Fl.OWr.k RKACllINi; IIIK STR- 

 FACK OK IlIK ICK AM) Ol'KM.Ni; IN 

 A CUI'-SHAl'Kl) DKI'KKSSION. 



apparently out of the ice itself, or as if stuck into 

 it. Uidess you looked close, and noticed that their 

 stems came from the j^round beneath, you might 

 even imagine they were rooted in the crystal mass 

 of the ncv('\ The edge of the snow-field in early 

 spring is often pierced and riddled by hundreds 



