The Relation of Science and Religion.pdf - Online Christian Library

178 SCZELV-CE AND RELIGIOfV.wasps suck eagerly, and by them it is fertilized.Of this flower, Mr. Darwin says,-" Itis very remarkable that the sweet nectar ofthis epipactis should not be attractive to anykind of bee. If wasps were to become extinctin any district, so probably would theEpirpactis LatifoZia." *Another example there is of an orchid(Spiranthes Autu~nnalis), comrnonly known asLadies' Tresses, having a series of spikes, ofwhich the lowest flowers are first matured,the others following in order as they rise tow-ards the summit.This plant is frequentedby bees, whose practice it is to begin withthe lorvest flowers and ascend gradually tothe top. This order in seeking to extract thehoney, proves to be the proper one for fertilizingof the plant, because the pollen whichthe bee brings will be received by the riperflower on which it lands, and when that hasbeen deposited, fresh pollen will adhere to thebee as it rises to the less matured flowers, andthus it departs laden with pollen destined forthe lowest flowers of the next plant it visits.j-These examples introduce us to a generalplan for fertilization of plants by the inter-* Fertilimtion, p. 102. t Ib. p. 113.