HONEYSUCKLE. 295 



from support within their reach, aspiring to 

 climb by means too large for their grasp ; 

 they have been drawn up, in weak hopes* by 

 a slight hold, which the first winds severed 

 throwing them to the earth, too feeble to 

 catch the most lowly plant. 



We love to see shrubs " o'er-canopied with 

 luscious woodbine," but in the oak of the 

 foi'est its beauties wither in the shade of its 

 too grand supporter. 



The name of Honeysuckle, we presume, 

 was given to this plant, from the trick of 

 children, who draw out the trumpet-shaped 

 corollas from the calix, to suck the honey from 

 the nectary. 



This flower has what is termed a tubulose 

 nectary, and the sweet liquid laying at the 

 bottom is secure from the reach of the in- 

 dustrious bee ; but the hawk-moth, a species 

 of the sphinx, hovers over these flowers in the 

 evening, and with its long tongue extracts the 

 honey from the very bottom of the flower. 

 Other insects that have not the advantage of 

 so lengthened a tongue, tap the tubes of the 

 flower, by making a puncture towards the 

 bottom, and then revel in the luxurious sweet. 



The nectary of a flower is that part of the 

 blossom which contains a liquid honey, and 

 we are inclined to think that this saccharine 



u 4 



