COLORS AND FRAGRANCE OF FLOWERS. 81 



for the accomplishment of this end. The honey is 

 placed in the flower for no other purpose but to attract 

 the insect. The fragrance is designed to spread abroad 

 into the atmosphere something that shall notify the 

 insect of the presence of the flower, and the beauty of 

 its form and the splendor of its hues are intended to 

 guide the insect to its exact location. The bee has just 

 emerged from the hive, to go abroad in search for his 

 honeyed subsistence. How would he find it, if the flower 

 had neither brilliancy of hues nor sweetness of scent? 

 And why should these things be superadded to the 

 flower and thereby attract the insect to it, if the insect 

 be in no way serviceable or necessary to the plant? 

 On coming out he perceives the odor of the sweet- 

 scented narcissus ; but this odor is so equally diffused 

 that it serves only to detain, not to guide or direct him. 

 While flying round in the midst of the perfumed gales, 

 the beautiful disk of the flower, with its white corolla, 

 and its purple and yellow centre, suddenly attracts his 

 sight, and he directs his course immediately to its de 

 pository of sweets. 



The flower attracts attention both by its colors and 

 its forms, which are almost always regular and geomet 

 rical, that they may form a more conspicuous contrast 

 with the herbage around. A solitary flower, which was 

 not conspicuous, might entirely escape the sight of a 

 multitude of insects, even if it was highly fragrant, and 

 its obscurity might prove fatal to the continuance of its 

 species. Nature has, therefore, taken care, by a great 

 variety of arrangements, to avoid any such accident. I 

 have observed that the wild strawberry blossoms that 

 grow under the shade of bushes, where they are hidden 

 from the sight of insects, are more apt to prove barren 



