arent tree and enter the ground. But the young
of our bittersweet membracis are not thus fickle, the entire life of the
insect being spent on the plant. Moreover, its eggs are laid in late
summer, and do not hatch until the following spring. What, then, is
this canopy of the tree-hopper but the provision of a thoughtful mother,
a pavilion about her offspring as a shelter through the winter storms?
In early July the tiny hoppers emerge from their egg-cases, and
presumably creep out from their luminous domicile, and later on in the
season these broods of varying numbers and all sizes are to be seen
among the young stems of the plant, their beaks inserted, their pointed
heads invariably in the same direction--towards the top of the branch.
Even though in flight one of the midgets is seen to alight in violence
to the rule, he instantly recognizes his mistake, and quickly glides
round to the orthodox position.

This curious insect is chiefly confined to the bittersweet, though he is
occasionally found in the company of a much bigger cousin of his on the
branches of the locust, where these same telltale corrugated frothy
pavilions are often seen to clothe the young twigs in their white tufts,
the similar product of the larger species, which thus also presumably
spends its entire life upon the locust-tree.

_THE WELCOMES OF THE FLOWERS_

[Illustration]

It is now some thirty years since the scientific world was startled by
the publication of that wonderful volume, "The Fertilization of
Orchids," by Charles Darwin; for though slightly anticipated by his
previous work, "Origin of Species," this volume was the first important
presentation of the theory of cross-fertilization in the vegetable
kingdom, and is the one that is primarily associated with the subject in
the popular mind. The interpretation and elucidation of the mysteries
which had so long lain hidden within those strange flowers, whose
eccentric forms had always excited the curiosity and awe alike of the
botanical fraternity and the casual observer, came almost like a divine
revelation to every thoughtful reader of his remarkable pages. Blossoms
heretofore considered as mere caprices and grotesques were now shown to
be eloquent of deep divine intention, their curious shapes a
demonstrated expression of welcome and hospitality to certain insect
counterparts upon whom their very perpetuation depended.

Thus primarily identified with the orchid, it was perhap