Sense-Life and Sensibility 



to suck the honey, their proboscis get inextricably caught 

 in the flower, and they perish miserably. M. Kunckel 

 d'Herculais tried hard but could not help them to get 

 free ; the only result of his well-meant efforts was to 

 decapitate the hapless insects. 19 



There is also a well-known orchid which has a hinged 

 lip. When the unsuspecting insect enters the flower 

 and passes over the lip, it is suddenly jerked forward 

 and thrown into a sort of bath of liquid ; as it painfully 

 crawls out, with wetted wings, it has to carry away the 

 pollen masses and so effect pollination. There is no 

 cruelty in this, for the insect is supposed to visit another 

 flower and cannot be much harmed. 



There are certain flowers whose honey intoxicates the 

 bees, who may often be seen, quite drunk and incapable, 

 crawling about the ground below them. But this is a 

 business matter, for the bees are intended to get a taste 

 for this particular kind of honey and so benefit the plant. 

 No doubt, in time, they will discover how to enjoy it 

 without injuring themselves, much as, according to Dr. 

 Archdall Reid, intemperance will inevitably work out its 

 own cure amongst human beings. 



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