. Eye spy : afield with nature among flowers and animate things . Natural history; Insects; Natural history. THE EVENING PRIMROSE 169 of its abnormal shape—" the worm i' the bud," as shown in my accompanying sketch — and what an eloquent story of blighted hopes its interior condition reveals ! This tiny whitish caterpillar which we disclose in the petal dungeon has been a prisoner since its birth, during the early growth of the bud. One by one the stamens and also the stigma have been devoured for food, until the mere vestiges of them now remain. With no stamens to bequeath pollen, a
. Eye spy : afield with nature among flowers and animate things . Natural history; Insects; Natural history. THE EVENING PRIMROSE 169 of its abnormal shape—" the worm i' the bud," as shown in my accompanying sketch — and what an eloquent story of blighted hopes its interior condition reveals ! This tiny whitish caterpillar which we disclose in the petal dungeon has been a prisoner since its birth, during the early growth of the bud. One by one the stamens and also the stigma have been devoured for food, until the mere vestiges of them now remain. With no stamens to bequeath pollen, and no stigma to welcome other pollen, what need to open ? What need to elongate a corolla tube for the tongue of a moth whose visit could render no functional service} So thus our blighted buds refuse to open, where blooming would be but a mockery. This tiny caterpillar has a host of evening primrose blos- soms laid to his door. When full grown he is nearly a third of an inch in length, at which time he concludes to leave his life-long abode, which explains the "' hole" through the base of the bud. If we gather a few of these buds and place them in a small box, we may observe. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton), 1850-1896. New York : Harper & Brothers
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
