246 LE MAOVT^'S BOTANr. 



Plants, observed that a Pistachio tree which till then, had blossomed 

 every year, but had never produced fruit, was now about to yield ; the 

 fruit being already formed. There was not in all the garden a Pistachio 

 tree bearing staminate flowers; the neighborhood was searched, none was 

 found, yet the blossoms of the tree about to bear fruit must have re- 

 ceived pollen, and whence could it have come ? Fruit formed by seeds 

 developed without the aid of pollen ! — this was indeed a rude check to 

 the theory of the fecundation of flowers, at that lime not so firmly es- 

 tablished as at present. The great botanist, much grieved at the fruit- 

 lessness of his search, perseveringly afiirraed that there existed some- 

 where in the vicinity a Pistachio-tree having staminate flowers, and that 

 it was this which had caused the tree in the Garden of Plants to bear 

 fruit ; still it was necessary to discover it. He then resolved to apply 

 for aid to the Police, whose agents were immediately dispatched with 

 an exact description of the concealed individual. These persons, cora- 

 mencino" at the garden, gradually enlarged the circle of their search, un- 

 till they at length discovered near the Luxembourg, in a corner of the 

 nursery grounds of the Chartieux, a little Pistachio tree with staminate 

 flowers, which had this year blossomed for the first time. The pollen 

 must therefore have passed through the air along the border of the fau- 

 bourg St. Germain, the faubourg St. Jacques, and the faubourg St. Mar- 

 ceau to search for the pistillate flowers on the Pistachio tree in the mid- 

 dle of the Garden of Plants. It is difficult to admit that the wind could 

 have transported so far a small quantity of pollen, without dispersing it 

 every where else rather than upon the narrow surface of the flower that 

 needed it. We must therefore seek another auxiliary to its fecundation. 

 You have no doubt often amused yourself with sucking the bottom 

 of the flowers of the honeysuckle, jessamine, lilac, or primrose, to ex- 

 tract the sweet juice which is there found in abundance. In thus in- 

 dulging yourself you have committed a robbery on insects that have no 

 other nourishment : these are butterflies, bees, and other often exceed- 

 ingly small insects, that you may see couched in the cup of the flower, 

 where they find at the same time, aliment and a home. 



It is to this nectar that we owe the honey of the bee ; and it is dis- 

 tilled by organs which we shall soon study. It is contained in the Gil- 

 ly-flower, the Melon, and most other flowers, and this attracts the insect 

 suckers. Do you believe that the flower furnishes them gratis with food 

 and shelter > See the bee when it gathers its harvest — while it eagerly 

 pumps the nectar, its body, bristled with hairs, becomes charged with 

 the pollen amidst which it glides,, and when it takes flight it scatters a 

 part of the pollen on the flower, then goes to pillage other plants, and 



