





SEXUAL FOBMS OF CATASETUM. 207 



This third point, however, was not established on the same 

 firm foundation as the two former ones ; and to this alone may 

 be attributed the appearance of the present paper. The whole 

 subject is one of peculiar fascination and clothed with a balo of 

 romance ; but, as soon as I thought seriously on the matter, the 

 altogether anomalous character of the so-called hermaphrodite 

 flowers was apparent ; and I was so impressed with the impro- 

 bability of Darwin's explanation being the correct one, that I 

 determined, as soon as the opportunity presented itself, of going 

 over the whole ground again. The results have been of a 

 somewhat, though perhaps not altogether, unlooked for nature. 

 Briefly, they may be stated, at the outset, as follows : 



1. Only two kinds of flowers, male and female, are produced 

 by the species of Catasetum investigated by Darwin ; and with 

 the exception of the section Pseudocatasetum (vide infra, p. 224), 

 and a doubtful example noted on pp. 214, 215 (C. Gnomus), this 

 appears to be the normal habit of the species generally. 



2. The so-called hermaphrodite form is simply a male — the 

 corresponding sex of the female investigated by Darwin ; and the 

 two do not belong to Catasetum tridentutum at all, but to 

 C. barbatum, Lindl. 



3. Darwin's male form is the only one which belongs to Cata- 

 setum tridentatum, — that is, limiting the use of the term to the 

 forms actually examined by him (and figured) ; for the female of 

 this very plant had been previously figured *, and the figure was 

 doubtless known to the author, though supposed to be identical 

 with the one he himself had examined. 



From this it will appear that the author has fallen into some 

 error, the nature and origin of which must now be traced. 



The statement that three distinct kinds of flowers had been 

 observed all growing on the same plant f is really based on the 

 observations of Schomburgk ; but these were unfortunately mis- 

 understood by Darwin. What Schomburgk really stated was, 

 that three kinds of flowers were produced by (apparently) one 



Lindley, Bot. Reg. t. 1752. 



t •• Botanists were astonished when Sir R. Schomburgk [Trans. Linn. Soc. 



xvii. p. 551] stated that he had seen three distinct forms, believed to constitute 



three distinct genera, namely, Catasetum tridentatum, Manackantkus viridis, and 



Myanthiis barbatus, all growing ou the same plant.*— &****> Journ. Linn. Soc. 





















n. p. 151. 





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