ture and function. Thus the fragrance of flowers, that inimitable essence, so 

 ethereal and yet so ravishing that the odoriferous emanation might well be 

 regarded as the spirit of the blossoms ; yet it needs be no ways degraded if 

 it is also recognised as an added charm to entice the coy butterfly or coquet- 

 tish moth. Whilst the delicious nectar on which they feast is the banquet 

 spread for the invited guests, whose visits are productive of reciprocal benefits. 

 The pleasing tints of colour which embellish our fields and make gay our 

 gardens with their variegated hues, display their beauties to attract the serial 

 wanderers. Whilst every pencilled streak and projecting hair are honey- 

 guides and finger-posts to indicate the proper path to the luscious stores 

 which are always so placed as to be only accessible by the performance of a 

 correspondiug service to the plant. The elegant grace of form we so much 

 admire in our tubular and bell-shaped blossoms, have their contours moulded 

 to form convenient chambers, so as to extract from their visitors a toll of pro- 

 ductive labour. The helmet cap of the monkshood, the slender spur of the 

 columbine, larkspur and violet, the long tube of the honeysuckle, the closed 

 lips of the snapdragon and the open portals of the foxglove, the arched hood 

 and convenient threshold of the dead nettle, are all devices for this end. 

 Even the very extravagance of floral shape and structure, as shown in the 

 marvellous eccentricities of the orchid blossom, only betokens a more 

 highly specialised form to fit it exclusively for certain definite purposes. 

 As a class of plants, the orchids have become the most absolutely 

 dependent upon the insect world for their existence, self-fertilisation having 

 become an impossibility in the majority of them. Some have even grown 

 so dependent upon individual orders of insects that were by any chance 

 the insects to disappear from a particular district, the flowers as well 

 would speedily cease to exist. This is averred of the helleborine (epipactis) 

 and wasps. Numerous experiments have proved, that when entomophilous 

 plants are carefully covered so as effectually to prevent the needful visits of 

 the proper insects the flowers have borne no seeds. This is exemplified on a 

 large scale in New Zealand, where the colonists have introduced the red 

 clover of Britain, it flourishes luxuriantly, but never produces any seeds, 

 because there are no humble bees, whose visits are absolutely necessary to its 

 fertilisation. To sum up in a sentence, plants with showy flowers, and 

 which emit perfume, or secrete stores of nectar, have laid themselves out for 

 insect fertilisation • therefore to this cause we owe the gorgeous beauty of 

 our blossoms, the delicious aroma of our flowers, and the delectable honey of 

 our hives. 



As the complete antithesis of this class of flowers, we have a small and 

 obscure section of blossoms, which display no gaudy hues, exhale no enticing 



