284 



SYMBIOSIS 



with an account by Dr. Cruger, of what may happen in the case 

 of the visiting bees which are " seen in great numbers disputing 

 with each other for a place on the edge of the hypochil (i.e., the 

 basal part of the labellum). Partly by this contest, partly 

 perhaps intoxicated by the matter they are indulging in, they 

 tumble down into the ' bucket/ half -full of a fluid secreted by 

 organs situated at the base of the column." 



To cut the story short, the humble-bee, in forcing its way out 

 of its involuntary bath, will have the gland of the pollen-mass 

 glued to its back and it will eventually fertilise the same or some 

 other flower. One cannot but think that the deception is over- 

 done, the plant working on the indulgence rather than upon the 

 healthy instinct of the insects. The necessity of having to 

 provide the " bath " recalls the case of Drosera, inasmuch as in 

 either case a great deal of fluid is required for the biological 

 operations of the plant. In either case, we may say, the excess 

 of water reacts injuriously upon the protoplasm and is certain 

 in the end to leave both plant and associated insects the poorer 

 for the trickery. The Vandeae have avoided self-fertilisation ; 

 but they have had recourse to forms of Norm-Symbiosis which 

 are of a dubious character. Here again we may infer that fungal 

 Symbiosis has been a disturbing rather than a helpful factor. 



Darwin perceived that the production of nectar was of 

 transcendent importance ; but he still underestimated the full 

 socio-physiological importance of the matter. Had he started 

 from the proposition that it is the highest purpose of the plant to 

 be widely useful, instead of embracing the narrower (Mullerian) 

 view that " the final end of the whole flower, with all its parts, is 

 the production of seed," this would have led him to a better 

 appreciation of the fundamental economy of Nature than is 

 implied by the teaching of " Natural Selection." 



In the work under review, he again devotes a special chapter 

 to the " Secretion of Nectar," and states : 



Although the secretion of nectar is of the highest importance to Orchids 

 by attracting insects, which are indispensable for the fertilisation of most 

 of the species, yet good reasons can be assigned for the belief that nectar 

 was aboriginally an excretion for the sake of getting rid of superfluous 

 matter during the chemical changes which go on in the tissues of plants, 

 especially whilst the sun shines. 



Here again we have a case of Bio-Chemistry merging itself 

 into Bio-Economics. What matters most is that the respective 



