NEWS OF SPRING 



21 



To have done with this strange tribe of the Orchids, it 

 remains for us to say a few words on an auxiliary organ that 

 sets the whole mechanism going: I mean the nectary, which, 

 for that matter, has been the object, on the part of the genius 

 of the species, of enquiries, attempts and experiments as in- 

 telligent and as varied as those which are incessantly modify- 

 ing the economy of the essential organs. 



The nectary, as we have seen, is, in principle, a sort of 

 spur, or long, pointed horn, that opens right at the bottom of 

 the flower, beside the stalk, and acts more or less as a counter- 

 poise to the corolla. It contains a sugary liquid, the nectar, 

 which serves as food for butterflies, beetles and other insects 

 and which is turned into honey by the bee. Its business, 

 therefore, is to attract the indispensable guests. It is adapted 

 to their size, their habits, their tastes; it is always arranged in 

 such a way that they cannot introduce or withdraw their pro- 

 boscis without scrupulously and successively performing all 

 the rites prescribed by the organic laws of the flower. 



We already know enough of the fantastic character and 

 imagination of the Orchids to gather that here, as elsewhere 

 — and even more than elsewhere, for the suppler organ lent 



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