The Magic Cone of Cecid

E VERYBODY knows that cones belong on trees like pines and spruces and firs and cedars and larches,—that is why we call them "conifers." But down by the river on a willow bush there is a cone as nice and even and pretty as any you can find on a conifer. It all happened because Cecid came along and touched that willow in the spring so that instead of growing into the branch it had started to make, it turned into a cone instead.

Cecid is not any larger than a mosquito and does not look important but in some mysterious way the willow tips she touches in the spring turn into big cones. Such a cone never has any seeds growing in it as a pine cone does, but it has something that a pine cone never could have. In the very middle it has a bright pink baby of Cecid growing.

That is what that magic cone is for,—a nice, safe cradle for a little pink baby. "And when the wind blows the cradle will rock," but it will not fall because it is grown right on the branch. The part of the cradle that is next to pink baby Cecid is very smooth and fits about him like a little cell. Then all around that middle cell the pretty silvery scales fit tightly and cover it up from sight. O, very snug is that little nest and very well off is the little pink baby inside.

Now that magic cone is bigger than wee baby Cecid needs all for himself,—and what do you suppose? Why, sometimes a tiny, tiny mother moth flies up and tucks her egg in between those soft, fuzzy scales and leaves her baby in that same swinging nest. And sometimes a little mother sawfly comes along and pushes her egg in, too. So that makes three babies in one cradle. And sometimes, along comes a tinier cousin Cecid,—O, much tinier than a mosquito, and she slips in several eggs. So you see that pretty cone is very important to different kinds of baby insects and they all grow up together in one nest and in the fall even then there is room to spare for another mother, still, who finds that nest and tucks in her eggs all snug and nice for the winter. This last mother is a green meadow grasshopper. Pink baby Cecid stays in his nest all winter, too, and comes out very early in the spring, for that is the time the Cecids fly,—before the willow tips have grown out into branches. If they waited longer it would be too late for the magic cones to grow.

Did you ever hear about Aladdin and his magic lamp? And did you ever wish that you could see wonderful things as well as Aladdin? Well, next time you feel that way suppose you rub your eyes instead of a lamp and start out for a walk in the world.

After you have found the magic cone, look farther down the willow branch and maybe you will find a magic potato. I should not be at all surprised if you came to a spruce tree with a lot of magic pineapples growing on it. If you live near oak trees you may see some magic apples on the leaves. Or perhaps you will happen to see some magic sand burrs on a rose bush. Did you never see a magic cockscomb on an elm leaf? These are not the kinds of potatoes and pineapples you can eat but they are none the less interesting for all that.

For all these queer and wonderful things and many more besides that are found growing where they do not seem to belong,—like sand burrs on a rose bush or apple shaped things on an oak leaf, grow that way because some little insect mother has stopped there and left an egg and it afterward befalls that this remarkable nest grows up around her baby and serves for food and shelter,—just as nicely as though she had rubbed a lamp and said "Hesto! Presto! Willow Twig, grow into a cone nest for my pink baby!"

To be sure I never heard Cecid say "Hesto! Presto!" to a willow but I have seen a great many cone shaped things growing on willow and, as everybody knows cones belong only on pines and their relatives, it always seems as if there must be some magic about it and I do truly believe that the world is just as interesting for us as it ever was for Aladdin.