THE STRUGGLE FOR THE LIFE OF OTHERS 301 



forth. The fertilizing pollen grows on one part of 

 the flower, the stigma which is to receive it grows 

 on another, or it may be on a different plant. 

 But as these parts cannot move towards one an- 

 other, the flower calls in the aid of moving things. 

 Unconscious of their vicarious service, the butterfly 

 and the bee, as they flit from flower to flower, or 

 the wind as it blows across the fields, carry the 

 fertilizing dust to the waiting stigma, and complete 

 that act without which in a generation the species 

 would become extinct. No flower in the world, 

 at least no entomophalous flower, can continuously 

 develop healthy offspring without the Co-operations 

 of an insect ; and multitudes of flowers without such 

 aid could never seed at all. It is to these Co- 

 operations that we owe all that is beautiful and 

 fragrant in the flower-world. To attract the insect 

 and recompense it for its trouble, a banquet of honey 

 is spread in the heart of the flower ; and to enable 

 the visitor to find the nectar, the leaves of the 

 flower are made showy or conspicuous beyond all 

 other leaves. To meet the case of insects which 

 love the dusk, many flowers are coloured white ; 

 for those which move about at night and cannot 

 see at all, the night-flowers load the darkness with 

 their sweet perfume. The loveliness, the variega- 

 tions of shade and tint, the ornamentations, the 



