THE MASTER INSTINCT 
on the resonant limbs. This marked contrast be- 
tween their ordinary tones and their love-songs 
reminds one of Browning’s lines: — 
“God be thanked, the meanest of his creatures 
‘ Boasts two soul-sides, one to face the world with, 
One to show a woman when he loves her!” 
In the vegetable world the males of dicecious 
plants perish as soon as the period of bloom of the 
females, or pistillate plants, has passed. Our spring 
plant called mouse-ear and everlasting (Anten- 
maria) is a familiar example. The two sexes are in 
separate groups, and show a marked difference in 
their appearance. The pistillate plants have a fem- 
inine look, they are more slender and graceful, and 
show more color; they differ in looks from the males 
as much as the queen bees differ from the drones. 
The males are short, stubby, freckled, and after they 
have shed their pollen they wither and perish, 
while the females continue to develop and grow 
in grace and beauty till their seeds are matured. 
The same is true with all shrubs and trees — hazels, 
chestnuts, oaks, beeches— which develop their 
pollen in catkins or aments; as soon as the pollen 
is shed upon the inconspicuous flowers the catkins 
wither and fall. 
There is no case of love and mating among the 
plants more pleasing to me than that of our Indian 
corn. When I see the male blossom push its panicle 
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