FRUCTIFICATION OF FLOWERS. 383 



carries home enable her to construct receptacles 

 for the reproduction of her own race. 



" For the due fertilization of the common Bar- 

 berry, it is necessary that its irritable stamens 

 should be brought into contact with the pistil, by 

 the application of some stimulus to the base of 

 the filament; but this would never take place 

 were not insects attracted, by the melliferous 

 glands of the flower, to insinuate themselves 

 amongst the filaments, and thus, while seeking 

 their own food, unknowingly to fulfil the intentions 

 of Nature in another department." In some cases 

 the agency of the hive-bee is inadequate to produce 

 the required end; in these the humble-bee is the 

 operator : these alone, as Sprengel has observed, 

 are strong enough for instance, to force their way 

 beneath the style-flag of the Iris Xiphium, which 

 in consequence is often barren. Other insects 

 besides bees are instrumental in producing the same 

 ends ; indeed they are necessary instruments : and 

 hence according to the same naturalist, in some 

 places, where the particular insect required is not 

 to be met with, no fruit is formed upon the plant 

 which is usually visited by it, where, it is indige- 

 nous ; for he supposes that some plants have par- 

 ticular insects appropriated to them. The American 

 Aristolochia Sipho, though it flowers plentifully, 

 never forms fruit in our gardens, probably for the 

 reason just assigned. The Date Palm affords a 



