144 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
As the lilies are squeezed together their flower- 
leaves have no chance to reach a perfect develop- 
ment. So the spathe, at first a 
\ mere leafy sheath, begins to assume 
he duties which they have 
ot. 
abandoned, and, by making a show 
Fic. .—A single, . 
florerof the sweet.in the world, helps to lure flying- 
ae insects to the blossom-colony. 
The downward path is as easy in nature as it 
is in morals. Generation after generation the par- 
tially superseded flower-leaves pale and dwindle, 
till, as in the calla, they are wholly superseded, 
and the spathe completely usurps their office of 
insect-luring. 
The cat-tail flag is like a calla, with its stami- 
nate and pistillate flowers separated, and with its 
creamy leaf torn away. It depends upon the wind 
for its pollen-carrying, and hence has no need of 
an insect-lure. Its flowers are reduced to the 
lowest possible terms, and may represent the last | 
step in degeneration. 
In early summer the cat-tail is a two-story ar- 
rangement (Fig. 34). The upper part if of 
golden-green and soft-like chenille, while the lower 
portion is darker in hue and more solid to the 
touch. The golden-green upper-story is a mass 
