Delpino on Fecundation 185 



fecundation by the intervention of insects, but his zeal for his theory 

 carries him beyond what his premises warrant. For example, he 

 refers the fecundation of exotic plants in Italy chiefly to a Scolia 

 and the Italian humble bee; and his theory would infer that the 

 plan of the flower or of the bee were specially contrived to suit 

 each other. But how if the plant comes from a country where no 

 Bombus occurs at all. There may be something else which answers 

 the same purpose, but the idea of mutual adaptation does not 

 always apply to the instances selected. 



In such questions, however, an independent and satisfactory 

 judgment can only be arrived at by studying the observations and 

 repeating for ourselves the experiments which have been made by 

 others. 



TRAVEL 



