A Plant that Melts Ice 45 



shaped blossoms, aj^aiii, even after they open, are 

 adiniialily adaj^ted fof keeping in the heat ; and 

 they are also exactly litted to the shape and size of 

 the bees and Hies that act as their chartered carriers 

 of pollen. A plant, in short, has to accommodate 

 itself at every point to the needs of its situation ; 

 it has to secure for itself a lirm foothold in the 

 soil, and a due share of food from the surrounding^ 

 air (for its diet after all is chiefly j^aseous) ; it lias 

 to take care that its pollen shall be duly dis- 

 persed, and its seedlets fertilised ; and linally, it 

 lias to see that its youn^ are satisfactorily settleil 

 in the world, and deposited on likely spots where 

 they can f^erminate to advantage. It must be a 

 j^ood parent as well as a prudent and cautious 

 adventurer. 



The struj^j^le for life carried on under these 

 circumstances has sharpened the wits of {liants 

 to a far higher dej^ree than most people imagine. 

 Plants liave developed almost as many dodj^es and 

 devices for securing food or avoiding enemies as 

 animals themselves have ; and this single instance 

 enables us to see with what forethought and clever- 

 ness they often provide against adverse chances. 

 Soldanella, indeed, could not exist at all upon its 

 ice-clad heights if it did not lay up food and fuel 

 in sununer against the needs of winter, like the bee 

 and the ant ; if it did ncjt burn up its own fat for 

 warmth, like the dormouse ; if it did not tunnel 

 the ice as the mole tunnels the earth ; if it did not 

 retire beneath the snow-sheet on the approach of 

 winter as the queen wasp retires int(j the shelter of 



