Honey 



must remember that during the greater part of the 

 year most animals have no occupation save that 

 of finding their food. Inconspicuously coloured 

 fruits, like those of the ivy, are frequently eaten 

 by birds. The bright colours of some ripening 

 fruits are undoubtedly the colours of decay. 

 Many fungi and seaweeds have bright colours. 

 It is never hinted that these are of any direct 

 utility to their possessor. 



Every flower, every plant, every organism 

 must be of some colour. 



Many flowering plants produce honey. This 

 is said by some botanists to have been directly 

 caused by natural selection, because the honey 

 attracts insects. Possibly those who take up 

 this attitude are putting the cart before the horse. 

 It is probable that honey, like oxygen, is an 

 ordinary product of the metabolism of the plant, 

 and that the visits of bees and other insects to 

 such plants are the result rather than the cause 

 of the honey being there. Boisier found that 

 some plants, for example, Potentilla tormentilla 

 and Geum urbanum, gave honey in Norway, but 

 very little near Paris. 



He further discovered that by supplying certain 

 plants copiously with water he could induce them 

 to produce more than their normal output of 

 honey. 



As is their habit, Neo- Darwinians have 

 pushed their pet theory to absurd lengths in its 



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