RELATION' BETWEEN' PLANTS AND INSECTS. 17 



Fritz Miiller, and above all Hermann Miiller and Darwin 



himself. The general result is that to insects, and 



especially to bees, we owe the beauty of our gardens, 



the sweetness of our fields. To their beneficent, though 



unconscious action, flowers owe their scent and colour, 



heir honey nay, in many cases, even their form. 



Their present shape and varied arrangements, their 



rilliant colours, their honey, and their sweet scent are 



all due to the selection exercised by insects. 



In these cases the relation between plants and 

 nsects is one of mutual advantage. In many species, 

 lowever, plants present us with complex arrangements 

 dapted to protect them from insects ; such, for in- 

 tance, are in many cases the resinous glands which 

 ender leaves unpalatable ; the thickets of hairs and 

 ther precautions which prevent flowers from being 

 obbed of their honey by ants. Again, more than a 

 Century ago, our countryman, Ellis, described an 

 A.merican plant, Dionnea, in which the leaves are 

 omewhat concave, with long lateral spines, and a joint 

 the middle, which closes up with a jerk, like a rat- 

 :rap, the moment any unwary insect alights on them. 

 Che plant, in fact, actually captures and devours in- 

 sects. This observation also remained as an isolated 

 act until within the last few years, when Darwin, 

 looker, and others have shown that many other 

 pecies have curious and very varied contrivances for 

 upplying themselves with animal food. 



As regards the progress of botany in other directions, 

 Ir. Thiselton Dyer has been kind enough to assist me 

 n endeavouring to place the principal facts before you. 

 x>me of the most fascinating branches of botany 



c 



