112 THE OPEN BOOK OF NATURE 
smothered either by other plants or its own big 
leaves. So the Coltsfoot gets its flowering done 
and its seeds formed before many later plants have 
put in an appearance or grown to any size. I might 
add other explanations of this habit of the Coltsfoot ; 
I merely give these to show that explanations are to 
be found. The Evening Campion opens its beautiful 
white and fragrant flowers in the late evening and 
night because it desires the services of moths, which 
are usually about at the times the flowers are open. 
The whiteness of the flowers makes them visible in 
the gloom, and their sweet scent attracts the 
friendly insects. The moths visit the flowers to 
secure nectar, and in pressing into the flowers they 
become dusted with pollen grains. They pass from 
the male flowers, which bear pollen, to the female 
flowers, which need pollen to enable them to form 
seeds that wili grow. The pollen is rubbed off their 
heads, ‘‘ feelers,’’ or legs on to the proper organ of 
the female flowers, and in this way, without intend- 
ing it in the least, the moths serve the Evening 
Campion and many other plants. 
Of course, you must know the names of the 
flowers that flourish in your localities, and Iam going 
to give you some hints that will help you to identify 
plants you don’t know. But make pets of a few 
plants. I mean exactly what I say—make pets of 
a few plants just as you would make pets of rabbits, 
mice, pigeons, or guinea-pigs. You can put your: 
plant-pets in pots, and keep them in the house for 
observation ; you may grow them in a special corner 
of your garden ; or you can watch them as they grow 
in their natural haunts. Now, you are to keep your 
