THROUGH LEAFY PATHS. 43 



floor, present a very striking appearance. It is a 

 notable example of those kinds of plants that 

 throw out their signal flags to the honey-gathering 

 insects. It knows the importance of showy 

 advertisement. Were it not for these conspicuous 

 flyers the early bees and moths would pass them 

 by unnoticed, and thus, by the neglect of cross 

 fertilization, render the seeds and fruit less healthy 

 and vigorous. But how quickly the leaf-builders 

 work. Before May has ended many of the leaves 

 have attained their full growth and spread them- 

 selves along the branchlets in huge green flakes 

 and slanting pinnacles that swing in the breeze as 

 if they delighted in their luxuriousness ; every 

 shrub and tree yields foliage after its kind. There 

 are patterns of hearts, rounds, ovals, spattels, 

 spears and shields. Some are smooth and pol- 

 ished, others hairy and crimpled, some with their 

 edges entire or cut into hundreds of different 

 pretty borders ; each species of plant taking on 

 the form, size and texture of leaf according to its 

 "peculiar structure and organization, habits and 

 requirements." « 



As the foliage grows, the birds look about them 

 for building sites. How they delight in the 

 leaves ! They afford covers for their roofless 

 houses and shelter from the scorching rays of the 

 sun. They are screens and curtains for them, 

 and form thousands of little crypts, lurking-holes 



