66 histinct. 



willing agents. The Mistletoe supplies its seed with 

 a glue that holds it to the branch where alone its 

 parasitic life can be sustained. The student of 

 Botany is amazed at the wealth of invention mani- 

 fested in this machinery of plants to secure the dis- 

 tribution of the seeds. The plume, the barb, the 

 hook, the spring, the wing in countless modifica- 

 tions are all employed according to the needs of 

 the plant. 



But instinct-like provisions made by plants are 

 not always for the benefit of themselves or their 

 young. Plants become protectors as well as sup- 

 porters, of many of the insect tribe. The Gall-fly 

 has but to deposit its eggs upon the leaf or branch 

 of the Oak, and the tree, like a careful nurse, makes 

 as ample provision for the young insect as is ever 

 made by animals under the guidance of Instinct for 

 their own young. The tree forms a gall or oak-ap- 

 ple which serves as a home and feeder for the imma- 

 ture insect. This provision is not made for one in- 

 sect alone but for many, and a like provision is made 

 in some form by a multitude of plants. In every 

 case the provision is adapted to the habits of the 

 insect and is always the same in kind for the same 

 species. What is more curious than to see the Oak 

 using its own resources to build a house and furnish 

 food for the insect cast upon its care ? The Golden- 

 rod and Potentilla in their swollen stems, the Wil- 

 low and the Spruce in their false cones oftentimes 

 with an insect under every scale, show in different 

 ways this protecting care of plants towards their 

 insect foes. 



