THE LIME. 99 



the descendants of the identical trees and flowers 

 which excited their curiosity and allured their affec- 

 tions; and descendants of the now existing indi- 

 viduals will no doubt carry on for ever, in one un- 

 broken stream, the loveliness that every summer 

 renews. How is this effected? Solely and abso- 

 lutely through the instrumentality of the apparatus 

 we call the " flower." The flower, in turn, needs 

 that its parts shall be lightly touched, as when 

 the musician runs his hand over the harp-strings ; 

 they who touch so tenderly are the unconsidered 

 little visitors and dwellers whose presence is often 

 thought an intrusion ; and they, it would appear, 

 are invited and sustained by the nectar in the 

 heart of the flower. Usually the honey is not 

 placed in any special receptacle, but round about the 

 feet of the stamens and pistil, just as we see green 

 mosses forming a bank round the base of the trunk 

 of an old tree in the wood. There are plenty of 

 examples, however, of such special cups or vases for 

 it, and these are of the most beautiful and curious 

 diversity. In the crown-imperial the vases are like 

 round white eyes, six in every flower, or one to 

 every petal ; in the grass-of- Parnassus they con- 

 stitute the palms of little hand-like bodies, every 

 one of which is provided with an uneven number of 

 fingers, usually either eleven or thirteen, so that the 

 central one shall stand higher than the others, which 

 gradually diminish in height as they are further and 



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