WHAT IS DARWINISM? 63 



come in contact with the pollen, which, adher- 

 ing to their backs, is carried off to other flow- 

 ers. This complicated contrivance by which 

 the female plants are fertilized has, according 

 to the theory, been brought about by the slow 

 process of natural selection or survival of the 

 fittest. 



Still more wonderful is the arrangement in 

 another species of Orchids. When the bee be- 

 gins to gnaw the labellum, he unavoidably 

 touches a tapering projection, which, when 

 touched, transmits a vibration which ruptures 

 a membrane, which sets free a spring by which 

 a mass of pollen is shot, with unerring aim, over 

 the back of the bee, who then departs on his 

 errand of fertilization. 



A very large class of plants are fertilized by 

 means of insects. These flowers are beautiful, 

 not for the sake of beauty, — for that Mr. Dar- 

 win says would annihilate his theory, — but 

 those which happen to be beautiful attract in- 

 sects, and thus become fertilized and perpetua- 

 ted, while the plainer ones are neglected and 

 perish. So with regard to birds. The females 

 are generally plain, because those of bright col- 

 ors are so exposed during the period of incuba- 

 tion that they are destroyed by their enemies. 



