ae IE pn<ai 2 Wii T - Dab En<=2%- a SEEN TREES

| 'v jh;

462 VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. NorTr XXXIX.

though before the diſcoveries of Linneus the nedary or honey-gland had not even acquired a name.

The odoriferous eſſential oils of ſeveral Nowers ſeem to have been deſigned for their defence againſt the depreda- tions of inſe&s, while their beautiful colours were a neceſ- ſary conſequence of the ſize of the particles of their blood, or of the tenuity of the exterior membrane of the peral. The uſe of the prolific duſt 13 now well aſcertained, the wax which covers the anthers prevents this duſt from receiving moiſture, which would make it burſt prema- turely and thence prevent its application to the ſtigma, as ſometimes happens in moiſt years and 1s the cauſe of deficient fecundation both of our fields and orchards.

The univerſality of the production of honey in the vegetable world, and the very complicated apparatus which nature has conſtrutted in many flowers, as well as the acrid or deleterious Juices ſhe has furniſhed thoſe flowers with(as in the Aconite) to protedt this honey from rain and from the depredations of inſects, ſeem to imply that this fluid is of very great importance in the vegetable economy 3; and alſo that it was neceſlary to ex- poſe it to the open air previous to its reabſorption into the vegetable veſſels.

In the animal ſytem the lachrymal gland ſeparates its fluid into the open air for the purpoſe of moiſtening the eye, of this fluid the part which does not exbale is ab- ſorbed by the puntta lachrymalia and carried into the noſtrils; but as this 18 not a nutritive fluid the analogy goes no further than its ſecretion Into the open air and ius reabſorption into the ſyſtem; every other ſecreted Auid

gro ale

falls

(|

Men

In

ß fü Inm