PHILIP'S HUNT 173 



them awhile. Each one had five delicate white 

 leaves, or petals, as I should say, and around their 

 edges they were cut in strips, just as though they had 

 ordered themselves to be fringed. Philip noticed 

 that many little insects that had tried to crawl up 

 the stems were held by something and could go no 

 farther. Then he felt the stems. They were sticky. 

 This made him remember Rock Pink, and he won- 

 dered if this white flower could be related to it, 

 since it had the same way of holding fast the in- 

 sects that were trying to crawl up its sticky stem to 

 steal nectar. Butterflies flitted about; they had no 

 need to walk on the stems, and a grasshopper that 

 jumped on the plant was so big and strong that 

 the stickiness made no difference to him. 



Philip didn't know the name of this flower. 

 He had never seen it before. He wondered if 

 he'd found a new one that was not even in Tommy's 

 books. It would be fine, he thought, to astonish 

 Tommy, and write about his discovery to Francis. 

 He took another long look to make sure he hadn't 

 missed seeing anything. 



The leaves! he had almost forgotten them. 

 They were long and pointed, and near the middle 

 of the stems four of them grew in a circle. At 

 other places, he noticed, there were only two, and 

 they were opposite each other. The plants came 

 about up to his chest, and as Philip is a tall boy 

 for his age, they must have been a good deal 

 higher than Rock Pinks ever thought of growing. 



