When one of the little banded
bees clings, as he must, to the tiny flower scarce half his size,
thrusting his tongue obliquely through the globe's narrow opening
to reach the nectar, suddenly a shower of pollen is inhospitably
thrown upon him from within. In probing between the ring of
anthers (that are pressed against the style by the S-shaped
curvature of the filaments so as to retain the pollen), he needs
must displace some of them and release the vitalizing dust
through the large terminal pores in the anther-sacs. Is he
discouraged by such rough treatment? Not at all. Off he flies to
another Andromeda blossom, and leaves some of the dust with which
he is powdered on the sticky stigma that impedes his entrance,
before precipitating a fresh shower as he sips another reward.
The straight column-like pistil, stigmatic on its tip only,
allows the flower's own pollen to slide harmlessly down its
sides. How exquisite are the most minute adjustments of floral
mechanism! Is it possible for one to remain an agnostic after the
evidences even the flowers show us of infinite wisdom and love?
Another denizen of swamps and low ground, next of kin to the
trailing arbutus, is the LEATHERLEAF, or DWARF CASSANDRA
(Chamaedaphne calyculata), a modest little shrub, its stiff,
slender branches plentifully set with thick oblong leaves that
grow gradually smaller the higher they go, and when young are
densely covered with minute scurfy scales.
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