76 AUSTRALASIAN 
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 are 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. Miller, 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 
