Page:An introduction to physiological and systematical botany (1st edition).djvu/368

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338
ASSISTANCE OF INSECTS IN IMPREGNATION.

The ways in which insects serve the same purpose are innumerable. These active little beings are peculiarly busy about flowers in bright sunny weather, when every blossom is expanded, the pollen in perfection, and all the powers of vegetation in their greatest vigour. Then we see the rough sides and legs of the bee, laden with the golden dust, which it shakes off, and collects anew, in its visits to the honeyed stores which invite it on every side. All Nature is then alive, and a thousand wise ends are accomplished by innumerable means that "seeing we perceive not;" for though in the abundance of creation there seems to be a waste, yet in proportion as we understand the subject, we find the more reason to conclude that nothing is made in vain.