44 PLANTS GROWING IN MUD. 
ter has but to relax his hold of the season for a single day, or 
two, and the first folded buds of the skunk cabbage are among 
us ; gladdening those that are weary of seeing the earth dried 
and pale, by announcing the nearness of spring. They are 
impetuous and sometimes hardly wait long enough to give 
their cheery message, as it is not unusual to find that they 
have been caught by Jack Frost. As soon as a thaw then sets 
in they quickly turn black and decay. 
It is still a mooted question whether or not this plant is self- 
fertilized. The arums are thought to be cross-fertilized by the 
wind ; as their pollen is dry and powdery, and their spathes 
are not so highly coloured as to attract the attention of in- 
sects. But the spathe of this plant has colour; and is so 
enwrapped about the flowers as to protect them from the wind. 
The pistil also matures long before the stamens. These facts 
would favour the theory of its being visited by insects. On 
the other hand, we have to remember that insects have not the 
indomitable courage of the skunk cabbage, and do not venture 
out at so early a season of the year. Flies abound the first 
warm days of spring, so perhaps they, or others of which we 
know nothing, are their secret embassadors. 
Children—and at an early age it may be that the nostrils are 
not fully developed—are particularly fond of searching for this 
plant and kicking it over, when its odour becomes much more 
intensified. 
AMERICAN CRINUIT. (Plate X//7) 
Crinum Americanum. 
FAMILY COLOUR ODOUR RANGE TIME OF BLOOM 
Amaryltis. White. Very fragrant. Florida and westward. May-Septeniber. 
Flowers: two to four, growing umbel-like at the top of a thick scape. 
Perianth : of six-pointed, narrow, recurved divisions with linear bractlets at 
the base of each. Stamens: six, with long, purple filaments ; anthers attached 
at the middle; pinkish. Zeaves: very long, narrow, pointed. Scape: one to 
two feet high. zd: globular. 
When we sit down beside this giant flower and overlook 
some river swamp, we think our best thoughts, the earth seems 
