SECRETARY'S REPORT. 143 



examples of the adaptation of plants to the wants of the insect 

 tribe. But every naturalist will recall a great num1)er of 

 kindred cases, in Avliich the plant responds to, the instinct of the 

 animal, and completes, even at its own expense of vital force, 

 and sometimes in a most elaborate manner, the machinery 

 which is needed to perfect the work which the instinct of the 

 animal had commenced. What chance should lead those insects 

 to deposit their eggs in the very plants that are so ready to act 

 the part of nurses, and supply by special provision all the wants 

 of the young that come from those eggs ? How came these 

 plants of different kinds to respond, in these various ways, so 

 perfectly to the need of their animal foes ? We wonder at the 

 provision they make for their own young plantlets ; we admire 

 their general adaptation to the wants of the animal kingdom as 

 food and purifiers of the air ; but when we see them building, 

 on one unvarying plan, a dwelling-place for the insect young, 

 and storing it with food, we can but recognize a power higher 

 than either insect or plant, the Creator of both, who ordained 

 the laws of their being, who implanted instinct in one, and 

 made the other the willing servant of the higher form of life. 



There is a variety of contrivances by which insects fertilize 

 plants. The structure of the flower and that of the bee are 

 often adapted to each other, as much as the key to the lock. 

 The honey is poured out in the flower, which attracts the insect, 

 and in his endeavors to reach the precious fluid he indirectly 

 benefits the plant. We might regard this as a matter of accident 

 were there but a single instance of it, or the same structure for 

 all plants. But "\fhen we see thousands of species of plants of 

 varied form, with their parts so arranged as to secure fertiliza- 

 tion by the aid of insects, and the drop of honey placed in the 

 flower to attract them, we not only recognize design, but in a 

 provision of such varied nature, the idea of chance is excluded. 

 If no honey is secreted in the flower, then it will be found that 

 means have been provided adequate to produce fertilization 

 without the aid of insects. There may be an abundance of 

 pollen, and* such a structure that the wind can do the work, as 

 in the corn and pine, or some special arrangement of the parts 

 of the flower to secure the result. It will be sufficient to men- 

 tion a few cases from the many, of structure, having reference to 

 the action of bees in the process of fertilization. The cucumber 



