Crocuses 19 
birds sample his fruit, and a host of bees, moths, 
beetles, and butterflies share his pleasure in his 
flowers. 
These insect visitors, however, are respectable 
wage-workers. It would be unjust to call them 
pensioners of the garden, for the flowers would be 
as ill off without them as they without the flowers, 
and next year’s borders will be all the brighter 
and sweeter, thanks to this year’s butterflies and 
bees. 
The few glimpses of sunshine which this March 
day vouchsafes us have already tempted out an 
enterprising bee. Her contented droning comes 
from the cup of an equally enterprising yellow 
crocus (Fig. 1)—to her a pavilion of gold wherein 
is spread a feast of nectar fit for the gods. 
Six yellow leaves, joined at their bases and 
separate above, form the dainty cup of the crocus- 
flower. 
Three of these are generally somewhat larger 
than the rest, and in the bud they enfolded the 
smaller trio within them. 
The larger and outer leaves are the “‘ calyx’ 
of the crocus-blossom and the inner and smaller 
ones are its ‘‘corolla.’’ But the calyx now in 
question is exceptionally big and beautiful. 
