156 CONCLUSION. 



investigated." To these very true remarks I would add 

 one more subject connected with insects, which has of 

 late years received considerable attention amongst a 

 few patient observers both at home and on the continent; 

 I allude to Insects in relation to Flowers. Scattered 

 papers on this extremely interesting subject have from 

 time to time appeared in various scientific publications, 

 and now, quite recently, a thousand thanks to that 

 accomplished naturalist — Sir John Lubbock — a little 

 manual* specially devoted to this subject lias appeared, 

 and the student can verify for himself the extremely 

 interesting facts so pleasantly stated in Sir John's 

 book. It has been known from the earliest times 

 how necessary and important certain plants are to cer- 

 tain insects ; but only quite recently is it becoming 

 generally realised how important, nay, in cases not a 

 few, how absolutely necessary to the very existence of 

 certain plants are certain insects ; for such is, in many 

 cases, the mechanical arrangement of the reproductive 

 organs in plants, as to render necessary for their propa- 

 gation the visits of insects, by whose agency alone fer- 

 tilization can take place. Anyone who will wander about 

 the fields, lanes, and woodlands with Sir John Lubbock's 

 valuable little handbook in his pocket, and notice the 

 different kinds of insects that visit different flowers, and 

 try to learn how the one interacts upon the other, pro- 

 ducing in time reciprocal modification of form and 

 structure, cannot fail to enjoy many peaceful hours of 

 real and abiding pleasure. 



* British Wild Flowers in Relation to Insects, by Sir 

 Jolin Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S., M.P. Macmillan, 1875 



