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can give his attention. The general principle of the relation 

 is very simple, and may be shortly stated here. The detailed 

 investigation and illustration of the subject can only be glanced 

 at in a work of this description. Any one who wishes to follow 

 up the study must apply himself to the works of Darwin, Sir 

 John Lubbock, Herman Miiller, and other writers who have 

 done so much for the service of botany, as well as for apiculture, 

 by their labours in this direction. The perusal of such books 

 will be found to be a rich treat, of which we can only give one 

 or two samples which will serve to whet the appetite of the 

 student. 



The main principle of the relations between insect-life and 

 plant-life is simply that of mutual advantage, the insects being 

 almost entirely dependent upon the vegetable kingdom for their 

 sustenance, and plants of most sorts being mainly dependent 

 upon the insects for the propagation of their species. A whole 

 host of insects, large and small, but of which the bee is by far 

 the most important, feed chiefly on the saccharine matter 

 secreted in the nectaries of blossoms of all sorts ; and some of 

 them, the honey-bee in particular, require for their own food, 

 or for that of their young, a good deal of farinaceous matter 

 which they find supplied by the fecundating dust of the anthers 

 of the same blossoms, which is called pollen. On the other 

 hand, it is necessary for the fertilization of the plant, that the 

 dust of the anthers should be brought in contact with the pistils 

 of either the same blossom or of some other blossom of the 

 same species. Until a comparatively recent date it was assumed 

 to be the rule, and the intention of nature, that each blossom 

 should be self-fertilizing, except in cases where the stamens 

 and pistils aie found in separate flowers; even then the inter- 

 position of insects would in most cases be necessary for the 

 conveyance of the pollen to the pistil ; but it is now made clear 

 to us, by the researches of botanists, especially of Sprengel, 

 Darwin, and H. Miiller, that cross-fertilisation is one of the chief 

 laws of nature in the vegetable kingdom ; that the pollen of 

 one blossom is intended to be transferred to the pistils of sepa- 

 rate plants of the same species ; and that the means for such 

 transfer are furnished by the visits of insects ; these are at- 

 tracted by the sweets to be found in the nectaries, and in 

 searching for them they become powdered with the dust of the 

 anthers, which is afterwards rubbed off by their contact with 



