AUGUST. 385 



attacks by a rank herbaceous smell, that emanates from their 

 leaves, and a similar flavor in their taste, while the gaudy 

 flowers of the same plants, like those of the gerardia and 

 the Thorn apple (stramonium) invite the bee to their blos- 

 soms. I believe it is an error to consider the honey of the 

 flowers of poisonous plants to be itself poisonous. Were 

 it so, the ends of nature would be defeated, as the insect 

 attracted by it would be killed while in the cup of the flower, 

 and by his own decay cause the destruction of the blossom. 

 Plants which have a medicated leaf are more common in the 

 later summer, when grasshoppers and locusts are numerous, 

 by which they might be devoured. Nature has insured the 

 preservation of the grasses, which are devoured both by in- 

 sects and quadrupeds, by providing them with the means of 

 multiplying by their roots, which are secured from attack by- 

 growing underground. 



But nature is not confined to one expedient for promoting: 

 the same end. She sometimes gives a sweet smell to the? 

 whole plant, instead of confining it to the flower. She h^as; 

 done this for the mint tribe, the sweet briar, and the myrtles.. 

 These odors may also serve the purpose of defending them? 

 from the grazing and browsing animals and the herbivorous, 

 insects. It will be found by examining the characters of 

 plants, that nature does not entice an insect or any other 

 creature to the plant, if the habit of such insect or other ani- 

 mal be to devour it, except in the instances of fruits. When 

 the plant is of such a nature that it would be destroyed by the 

 loss of its foliage, such a plant is invariably protected by 

 thorns, by a poisonous quality of its sap, or by a strong odor 

 or acrid taste, which respectively guard it from the attacks of 

 insects and herbivorous animals.. Hence the apple, the pear,, 

 the hawthorn and the rose, whose foliage and tender branches 

 are agreeable and wholesome to animals, are protected in 

 their wild state by thorns. The peach, the plum, and the 

 cherry, on the contrary, are without thorns, and nature accord- 

 ingly has protected them from the ravages of insects and 

 animals, by infusing a bitter and poisonous principle into 

 their sap. The willow and its kindred tribes, not so well 



VOL. XXI.- — NO. VIII. 49 



