64 WILD FLOWER FAMILIES 
Now those flies that went into a flower where 
the pollen had been shed would find the bottom 
of their retreat thickly covered with the yellow 
powder. Whenever they move they must dust 
themselves with this powder and when they leave 
they must carry much of it on their bodies and 
legs. Some of this will remain upon them during 
their brief sojourn in the sunshine, and when 
they again seek shelter many of them will ‘be 
likely to enter the chamber of another flower in 
which the stigmas are receptive. As they walk 
over the florets of this, the viscid stigmas will 
catch and retain the pollen grains, and thus the 
process of cross-pollination will be completed. 
There are other visitors also to these early 
blossoms. Scavenger flies are especially attracted 
by the color and odor, and very early in spring 
the common honey bees find it worth their while 
to visit them. 
_The Swamp Cabbage is of decided interest in 
another respect. If you attempt to dig up one 
of the plants you will find that the bulbous root is 
some distance down, and if you stop to think 
you will wonder how it came to be so far below 
the surface. The reason is that the root of this 
plant is a “burrowing bulb.” Soon after the 
seeds which are developed from the flowers begin 
to grow in the rich soil of the margin of the bog 
they form at the base a little bulb, and from the 
