260 FLASHLIGHTS ON NATURE 



narcissus, " Why does it produce this notch on 

 its petals ? Why does it make this curious crown 

 inside the cup of its flower?" Those things are 

 thought of as purely ornamental ; as parts of the 

 plant, not as organs made by it. Yet the rose 

 and the narcissus have just as much a reason of 

 their own for everything they do and everything 

 they make as the cat or the bird ; they are just 

 as much governed by ancestral wisdom, though 

 the wisdom may in one case be conscious, in 

 the other hereditary. 



The rose, for example, produces prickles for 

 its own defence, and scented blossoms to attract 

 the fertilising insects for its own propagation. 

 It does everything in life for some good and 

 sufficient reason of its own, and takes as little 

 heed of other people's convenience as the tiger 

 or the snake does. " Each species for itself," is 

 the rule of nature ; no species ever undertakes 

 anything for the sake of any other, except in 

 the expectation of a corresponding advantage. If 

 the wild thyme lays by in its throat abundant 

 honey for the bumble-bee, that is because it counts 

 upon the bumble-bee to carry its pollen from 

 blossom to blossom ; if the holly puts forth bright 

 red berries for the robin to eat, that is not be- 

 cause it cares for the robin's distress, but because 

 it looks upon the bird as a paid disperser of its 

 stony seeds, and gives him in return a pittance 

 of pulp for his pains, as stingy payment for the 

 service rendered. The holly and the thyme are 

 confirmed sweaters. Indeed, you will find that 



