115 
of the young progeny. They are habitations ; but 
the habitations or holes of many insects and fish, 
and amphibia and birds, as the burrows of puffins 
and of rabbits, and badgers and foxes, are places of 
breeding, and also of permanent shelter. The roots 
of most plants, excepting annuals, are hybernacula, 
or winter quarters for the vital energies of the veget- 
able world. Bulbs have great analogy with nests. 
The future plant is there nurtured, protected, and 
fed, till it is so far advanced in growth as to be 
able to sustain itself. The singular root of the 
ophrys nidus avis, the complicated form of which 
gives name to the plant, appears to be a compound 
of bulb, root, and tuber. The fleshy fibres are fixed 
laterally to the bottom of the stem in a thick in- 
tricate bunch, resembling the woven structure of a 
bird’s nest. 
Social habits. 
The nidification of different animals, and the con- 
nected or disconnected roots and seeds of different 
plants, determine in a great degree, no doubt, yet in 
connection with instinct, the social or unsocial cha- 
racter of some species of every class. Some plants 
are thinly scattered, and are found delighting the 
fortunate botanist in the rarity of solitude. See Dr. 
Arnold’s and sir Stamford Raffles’s account of Raf- 
flesia Arnoldi; names well coupled with the most 
singular of vegetables, their joint discovery in the 
woods of Sumatra. The lathrea squammaria, the 
monotropa, the ophrys nidus, avis, may be cited as 
familiar instances of solitary plants. Couch grasses, 
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