To attract insects and then repel them seems a little like using them as some flirts notoriously use men, only to throw them over when they are no longer interesting. In the large-flowered magnolia tree from the southeastern United States, insects, however, fare somewhat better than this. In this magnolia, which has flowers several inches long, self-fertilization is impossible as the stigmas are ready to receive a mate several days before the laggard stamens are provided with the wherewithal. Without some insect or other outside help there would be only a childless old age for this particular tree. The flower opens rather early in the season, while the nights are still cool, and as a protection from the cold, rose beetles habitually fly into them. They find a pleasant shelter under the three inner petals which arch over the honey-coated stigma, and form a snug little chamber so much warmer than the outer air that its heat is appreciable to the touch. The rose beetles, once they are inside this warm shelter, cannot get out and are often held for a few days. Then, as the stigma passes its period and the stamens are furnished with pollen, the chamber opens by the gradual withering of the petals. But the insects, in their efforts to get out, have raised a perfect dust storm of pollen with which they are naturally covered. Just as soon as they are released they are free to seek another warm shelter where the process is repeated. Thus they always enter the flower with foreign pollen, use it up impregnating the waiting ovule, and are held until the flower’s own pollen gives the signal for their release properly dusted for a renewal of the work. The premature timing of the stigma, the tardiness of the anther in producing pollen, the generation of heat and secretion of honey which frequently covers the whole stigma--there could scarcely be a better equipment for securing cross-fertilization. And without it the magnolia would be simply sterile.