i88 
NATURE STUDY. 
and reciprocate by fertilizing the plant. Although the 
blossom examined had been open but one day, when the 
spathe was cut open a bluebottle fly was found imprisoned 
in the nearly closed base. This survivor of a New Hamp¬ 
shire winter had been aroused by the warmth of approach¬ 
ing spring and had gone where a familiar odor had attract¬ 
ed. 
The insects that alight on the sterile flowers are enticed 
below by a different odor, and find themselves searching 
for honey and distributing pollen at the same time. The 
nectar glands exhale a most delightful perfume, delicate 
and lasting. One little gland, barely larger than a pin¬ 
head, impaled upon a needle, gave out an appreciable per¬ 
fume, and an hour later the odor was perceptible upon fin¬ 
gers that had handled them. The plant is a curious in¬ 
stance of adaptation to environment and of specialization 
approaching that of orchids. 
The Secret of the Closed Gentian. 
BY DOROTHY MAY. 
To Sweetwater Brook on a September day for closed gen¬ 
tian. The road goes high over the brook, which “slips 
down through moss-grown stones with endless laughter.” 
On a little island above the bridge, there are tiny feathers 
scattered—fine, silky feathers, with a hint of green and 
gold. The tragedy is easily read. A hawk or shrike 
dashed down npon some dainty warbler, perhaps a Mary¬ 
land yellow-throat, and then, perching on the sapling that 
bends over the stream, tore it to pieces. So much of 
grace, and beauty, and melody gone to make a feathered 
cannibal’s dinner. Oh ! the pity of it! 
The brook is so low one can step from stone to stone un¬ 
der the bridge. On a shelf of rock there is a four-storied 
