PLANTS THAT ENTERTAIN 155 
While he is being undeceived, the stigma manages 
to get from him a sufficient amount of pollen, and 
the waiting anthers shower him with a fresh 
supply. 
Among plant-hostesses perhaps none has a more 
unique guest than the marsh-marigold, often known 
as the American cowslip. The marsh-marigold is 
not a true marigold, nor is it a real cowslip; but 
these are the common names for this early spring 
flower with its striking yellow varnish and its fat 
stalk—a favourite among the flies and insects. 
Its beauty is unrivalled among the early yellow 
flowers; but that is not its only claim to notice. It 
also entertains. And its guest is a musician! This 
mite of a musician is a tiny green frog, which sits 
on the leaf of the marigold. He is small—not 
more than three-fourths of an inch long—but his 
voice is marvellously shrill. His concert hour is 
four o’clock in the afternoon. He is not always 
punctual; but generally at about this hour he may 
be seen creeping along the leaves of the marigold 
—his name is “Spring-creeper”—and occasionally 
stopping to sing in his high tenor voice, with its 
shrill tone in E flat of the highest octave on the 
piano. 
Why the plant entertains this tiny frog, no one 
knows. Perhaps for the same reason that people 
