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MR. B. A. KOLFE ON THE 





and the same species*, not by the same plant (individual). The 



difference may at first sight seem an unimportant one ; but a 



moment's consideration will show that this is not the case. Had 



the three kinds of flowers been observed on the same individual t? 



no amount of reasoning could have explained away the fact. As 



it is, however, the possibility of two distinct species having been 



accidentally confused together presents itself ; and this is what 



has really taken place. It may appear singular that two such 



very different looking plants as Catasetum tridentatum and 



C. barbatum — that is the male forms, to which the names were 



exclusively applied, — should ever have been confounded together ; 



but on looking at the females only of the two species, there 



appears nothing very remarkable in the fact that they should 



have been thought identical %. Here we have the key of the 



situation. The female forms of the two — and indeed of several 



others — are remarkably alike ; consequently the fact that they 



belonged to quite distinct species was entirely overlooked, not 



only by Darwin, but by other writers. 



" In a letter which I had the pleasure to address to Mr. Bentham, on the 

 28 1 h of June last year, I informed him of a remarkable Orchidaceous plant, 

 from appearance a Monachanthus, which on one side of the bulb produced a 

 scape with six flowers of Monachanthus viridis and two of Myanthus barbatus, 

 while a second scape on the same bulb had twenty-five blossoms of the Myan- 

 thus barbatus The thought impresses itself, therefore, forcibly upon me, 



that the genera Monachanthus, Myanthus, and Catasetum form but one genus ; 

 and in this conclusion I am borne out by the following observations. 



" A vigorous plant, which produced at its former state of inflorescence the 

 flowers of Monachanthus viridis, had two months ago a scape with flowers of 









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ceous plants, sowed the seed of Monachanthus viridis on a decayed trunk of an 

 Erythrina. Among these plants, one produced a scape with the flowers of 



Catasetum tridentatum The evidence of the present plant, which has 



caused these remarks, would likewise include the genus Myanthus in the group. 



Schomburgk, in Trans. Linn. Soc. xvii. p. 551. 



t It is clear that when Darwin said "plant," he did not mean "species; 

 for after describing Catasetum tridentatum and Monachanthus viridis, he pro- 

 ceeds to say : "We now come to the third form, Myanthus barbatus, often borne 

 on the same plant with the two preceding forms." — Darwin, Journ. Linn. Soc. 

 vi. p. 150. 



% For example, Catasetum cristatum, var. monstrosum, Hook. Icon. Plant, ii. 

 t, 177, is a plant sent to the author, in alcohol, by Dr. Nimmo. The nine 

 uppermost flowern are female, the three lower ones male. The author remarks 

 that he is not sure if Bot. Eeg. t. 1752 [really the female of C. tridentatum] is 

 not the same as the one now figured, with all its flowers metamorphosed. 



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