FLOWERS OF PLANTS. 65 



only, chiefly from the China, Provence, and da- 

 mask kinds *, passing over the petals of their blos- 

 soms as useless. That splendid insect, the rose 

 beetle (cetonia aurata), that beds and bathes in 

 sweetness, will partially eat the flowers of some 

 species of roses, and " lap the nectar they produce ;" 

 and a few others nibble a little ; but the liliaceous 

 tribes, and other glorious flowers, as far as we know, 

 furnish to insects no supply, but expand, wither, 

 and die, unnoticed but by the eye of man alone. 

 Flowers that are grand, gay, cheerful or beautiful, 

 predominate infinitely over those that are of a sombre 

 hue or gloomy aspect. Employment and occupa- 

 tion were as much the design, as they are found to 

 be essential to the happiness of human life : we are 

 not all constituted to soar in the higher regions of 

 scientific research ; our dispositions are as various as 

 our intellects. Horticulture was the first occupa- 

 tion instituted for man, and he cannot pursue a 

 more innocent and harmless employ : we were given 

 " every herb, and every tree upon the face of the 

 earth." For food, or raiment, the immediate ne- 

 cessities of man, a very few of them are applicable ; 

 but we can collect them for amusement, in admira- 

 tion of their beauty. Without this beauty, they 

 would be no object of research ; and man, who is 

 exclusively sensible of its existence, can alone find 



* This bee does not exclusively make use of the leaves of rose 

 for its purposes, as I have known it in some seasons cut away the 

 young foliage of cytisus laburnum, even when growing in company 

 with its favourite rose. 



F 



