The azalea does several things for the moth it loves. It may be its beautiful white color is for his sake; anyway, if the flower were not white the moth would not be likely to find it, since he flies abroad after the birds have gone to rest,—that is, in the evening, when it is dark in the damp thickets where the honeysuckle loves to grow. Azalea has a sweet white corolla with a long, slender tube containing nectar that moth or humming bird can reach, but which bees cannot reach. Watch a bee try some time. If the flower is between you and the light, you can see the bee’s brown tongue through the flower tube; she appears to be standing on her toes and reaching in as far as she can; she darts out her tongue to its full length, and you can see it wriggling and straining to get to the abundant honey low down in the flower tube. But there is no use trying; the tongue is too short and the tube too long. The honeysuckle tube was not made to fit the bee’s tongue, and the bee can get only the outer rim of the honey. Perhaps this is why the bee so often breaks in the back way. Besides being white, the azalea flowers grow in clusters, which makes them yet more visible in the dusk. They exhale a delicious and far-reaching perfume too, and this is a note of invitation to the moths. [Illustration: [Honeysuckle]] Instead of writing a note on a sheet of perfumed paper, the honeysuckle simply sends the perfume without the paper, and the moth understands the message and knows the white azalea “requests the pleasure” of his company that evening, and he puts on his best manners, since he cannot change his clothes, and goes. The white azalea is so _very_ sweet and so pretty, it would not be strange if other uninvited guests than bees were to visit it. No doubt, the ants and bugs and gnats and flies would be glad to, but the azalea has a very inhospitable way of receiving such would-be guests. All over the outside of the lower part of the white tube and running in a line to the very tips of the petals are tiny white hairs with black tips. These are azalea’s body guard. Each tip exudes a drop of sticky liquid. Fine, sticky hairs cover the stems and the leaves too; so the unfortunate insect that tries to crawl up to the flower is sure to get wings and legs hopelessly entangled and stuck together. Only large fellows, like bees, who are strong enough to pull themselves free and clean off their legs, are able to defy this body guard. You will sometimes meet our sweet azalea covered on the outside with little marauders who wanted to steal her honey but could not, because the body guard caught them and stuck them fast. Not all flowers with tubes have succeeded as well as azalea in keeping their honey for the visitors who can do them the most good. Yet many have tried.