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Show I IO VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. NoTE XXXIX. :and butterflies above-mentioned, as wr on as t 1le y a~qu ire the p. allion and 1th e appartal teuvs for the reprodu.:lion of their ,r pect· es, 1o {ie t1le pow er of fced1nr::r> upon eaves as l • . f db ')me nourifhcd by what ?-by honey alone. did be ore, an e.ct fl:ron rr analogy for the ufe '>f the nectary or fecretion of honey H ence ·we acqlllre a o f fl .. and the female part~, in the veact ::~b le economy, which is, that the male parts 0 OWel~, 0 I rr I 0 0 [oon :s they leave their fetus fiate, expanding their petals, (whtc l con Jtut~ t leu. las b rcnl'ble to the [Jallion, and g::~in the app::~ratus for the reproduCli~n of tmas) ecome 11 • • • r n b 1 (; · . 1 bed . •bC!i=r' 'r pcc1·e s, an(1 aJ ·e Jr ~· d and nourilhcd with honey like the llllcus a o• ve c e c1f i ' :nd th :J.t hence the ncdary begins its office of producing honey, and dies or cca .es. t~ pro d uce I IOt~e y a t tl'.c. r,;3 111e time wi th the birth and de::~ th of the fi :1men s and thde dp'l11f'l !ls:1, ~vhich, whether e:-.ifl: ing in the fame or in different flowers, arc fcpa ra te an J 111 c animated beings. (l ' ., 1 tl · P .. · to this tim~,; the anthers with their filam ents, ~lld the Igmas " 'J, 1 lelr re'ilou. . . I 1'1 h , ded fl les, are in their fetus-flate full:ained by their placental vellc s,. I (e t e unexpan 1 y f-b cl . with the feed' exining in the vegetable womb yet lllllmprr.gnated,. and the deu:lft ~t t:nripe in the cel ls of the anthers. After this period they expand their petal s, h' ~ h:.~ve been !hewn above 10 conftitute the lungs of the flower; the pbcen.tal Wvc i1ICCi s, which before nourifhed the anthers an d t h e n·1 gmas, C(~a 1e {ic e o.r ceafe to .n ounfh th ·m. and they now acq uire blood more oxygenated by the air, obtain the palf10n a~d o._we; of reprod11 Clion, are fenGble to heat, and cold, and .moi~ure, and to mecha111~ ~imulus, and become in reality infects fed with honey, fimdar 111 every refpect except their being attached to the tree on which they were pro~uc ed. . Some experiments I have made this fummer by cutt111g out the neCl:anes of feveral Jlowers of the aconites before the petals were open, or had become much coloured, fame of thefe flowers near the fummit of the plants produced no feeds,. others lower d~~n produced fe eds; but they were not fufficiently guarded from the fanna of the flowets Ill th eir vicini tv; nor h:we I h:~d opportunity to try if thefe feeds ~ould. veget~te . . 1 am ac~uainted with a philofophcr, who contemplating th1s fubjeel: th1.nks Jt not · rr:ble tllat the firfi infects were the anthers or fiigmas of flowers; wh1ch had by Hnpoui , . f V ll'f. fomc means loafed themfelves from their parent plant, !Ike the male fl.owers o a 1 - ncria; and that many other infeCl:s have gradually in long procefs of t1me be.en formed from thefe ; fome acquiring wings, others fins, and others. c~a ws, from the1r ceafelefs efforts to procme their food, or to fecure themfelves from InJury. He. contends, that none of thefc changes arc more incomprehenfible than the transformation of tadpoles into frogs, and caterpillars into butterflies. There arc parts of animal bodies, which do not require ~xygena~ed bloo~ for the purpofe of their fecretions, as the liver; which for the productwn of bJ!e take.s 1ts blood from the mefentcric vein s, after it mufl: have lofi the whole or a great part of 1ts oxygenation, which it had acquired in its paffage through the lungs. In like manner the peri carpi urn, or womb of the flower, continues to fecrete its proper jui~cs for the prefent nourifhment of the newly animated embryon-feed; and the facchanne, acefcent, or fiarchy matter of the fruit or feed-lobes for its future growth ; in the fame manner as NoTE XXXIX. VEGETABLE GLANDULATION. lii thefe things went on b~fore fecundat!on; that is, without any circulation CJf juices in the p~tals, or productwn of honey 1n the neClary; thefe having perilhed and fallen off With the male and femaie apparatus for impregnation. It is probable that the depredations of in feels on this nutritious fluid muft be injurious t~ the prod:1ds of vegetation, and would be much more fo, but that the plants have either acqUired means to defend their honey in part, or have learned to make more than is abfolutely neceffary for thelr own economy. In the fame manner the honey-dew on ~r~es is very injurious to them; in which difeafe the nutritive fluid, the vegetable-fapJUice, fe~ms to be exfuded by a retrograde motion of the cutaneous lymphatics, as in the fweat111g ficknefs of the !aft century. To prevent the depredation of infects on h~n~y a weal.thy ~an in Italy i~ faid t.o have poifoned his neighbour's bees perhaps by ~~xwg arfen1c With honey, aga1nlt which th~re is a mofl: flowery declamation in Qiinti! Jan. No. XIII. As the ufe of the wax IS to preferve the dufl: of the anthers from moifiure, which would prematurely burfl: them, the bees which collect this for the confiruClion of the combs or cells, mu(1 on this account alfo injure the vegetation of a country where they too much abound. It is not eafy to conjecture why it was neceffa ry that this fecretion of honey fl10uld be expofed to the open air in the nectary or honey-cup, for which purpofe fo great an apparatus for its defence from infeCls and from flwwcrs became nece!Thry. This difficulty increafes when we recollect that the fupr in tl1e j oints of graf.~, in the fugar cane, and in the roots of beers, and in r ipe frui1~ is produced without c:xpofure to th~ air.On fuppofiti on of its ferving for nutriment to the anthers and fiigmas it rnay thus acquire greater oxygenation for the purpofe of producing greater powers of fenfibility, according to a doClrine lately ad\'anced by a French philofopher, who has endeavoured to fhew that the oxygene, or bafe of vital air, is the confiituent principle of our power of fenfibility. So cate rpillars are fed upon the common juices of vegetables found in their leaves, till they acquire the organs of reproduction, and then they feed on honey, all I believe except the filkworm, which in this coumry takes no nourifhmcnt after it becomes a butterfly. Thus alfo the maggot of the bee, acc0rding to the obfcrvations of Mr. Hunter, is fed with raw vegetable matter, called bee-bread, which is colleCled from the anthers of flowers and laid up in cells for that purpofe, till the maggot becomes a winged bee, acquires greater fenGbility, and is feJ with honey. Phil. Tranf. r792. See Zoonomia Sect . XIII. on vegetable animation. From this provifion of honey for the male and fem:~le parts of flowers, and from the provifion of fugar, fl:arch, oil, and mucilage, in the fruits, feed-cotyledons, roots, and buds of plants laid up for the nutri ment of the expanding fetus, not only a very numerou~ clafs of infects, but a great part of the brger animal$ procure their food; and thus enjoy li fe and ple:1fure without producing pain to others, for thefe feeds or eggs with the nutriment laid up in them are not yet endued with fenGtive life. The fecretions from various vegetable glands harden ed in the air produce gums, refins, and various kinds of faccharin c, fap~naceous, and wax- like fubfiatlces, ns the |