302 
THE PLANT AND THE INSECT. 
life of freedom, offers it the abundance of its substance, and for sole 
reward expects that it will achieve its fecundation. Then, too, as an 
elder brother might do, the animal assists the plant, and affords it in 
its dependent state the succour of liberty. But, for this purpose, the 
animal must be completely free, I would say winged, bound up with 
the vegetable life which was its kindly nurse. Behold the insect, 
love’s messenger and mediator to the plants, their propagator, and the 
zealous instrument of their fertilization. 
“ With a maternal care, the plant provides a place in its own body 
where the insect’s egg may be developed. It nourishes the young 
larva which as yet is incapable of action, but which, in due time, 
emerging from its vegetation in the egg, will move freely to and fro, 
and seek its own sustenance. The creative fecundity of the plant 
easily replaces whatever the insect has extracted from it; and thus 
both animal and plant harmoniously attain to the climax of existence. 
“ The animal, from its low sphere of nutrition, rises to a more ele¬ 
vated sphere, the pure need of motion, and the pursuit of love. The 
plant, it is true, does not soar so high; but its flower is a bright 
dream of a higher state of being,—a dream which, though fugitive, 
proceeds, by means of its fruits, to secure the conservation of the 
species. The blossoming plant and the winged insect reach, as if by 
concert, an analogous development, manifested by their colours, their 
beautiful symmetrical forms, and their refinement of substance. Papil¬ 
ionaceous flowers, for instance, might almost be called insects-become- 
plants. 
“ This harmonic existence marches forward with the same rhythm 
as the moments of the day. Each flower to whose juice an insect is 
assigned expands at the hour when its life is most intense, and shuts at 
the hour of its repose. Thus they feel their unity; love attracts them 
one towards the other. Here the plant plays the part of the female, 
the fixed basis of creation, absorbed in nature. The insect resembles 
the tiny male who frees himself from earth and curvets in the air; 
recalled, nevertheless, by the plant to the oneness of the terrestrial 
whole. It is a winged anther, which diffuses life among the flowers.” * 
* Burdach, bk. ii., c. 3. 
