394 PLATANTHERA CHLORANTHA WITH THREE SPURS. 
It may, perhaps, be regarded as a partial reversion to a regular form, but 
I do not think it is a deformity in the sense that an extra finger or thumb 
is. What one would very much like to know is whether it is permanent ; 
whether the successive annual tubers go on producing three-spurred 
flowers. 
Since the publication of the article on my first three-spurred Platanthera, 
and since my present note was written and in possession of the Society, 
Mr. S. Sommier of Florence has sent me a copy of a paper of his on 
Platanthera bifolia Weichb. tricalearata (Bullettino della Società Botanica 
Italiana, n. 6, July 1898, p. 186), which I had unfortunately overlooked. 
Mr. Sommier describes an example of false peloria of exactly the same 
nature as my published account, namely the production of spurs by the two 
lateral sepals, all of the flowers being transformed. 
His specimen was gathered in a wood in the neighbourhood of Florence, 
where normal P. bifolia was common, but he could not find another plant 
of the anomalous form, 
What is still more remarkable, though incapable of proof, is the fact 
that Mr. Sommier believes that he has had under observation an example 
of true peloria in Platanthera bifolia. In a footnote to the article in question 
he says :—“ I remember to have seen some time ago among the native 
orchids cultivated by the Marchesa Paulucci some flowers of Platanthera bifolia 
with supernumerary spurs, and I believe that they belonged to the two 
lateral petals; but I did not give the matter sufficient attention at the 
time. In his own words: “ Ricordo di aver visto, tempo addietro, fra 
le Orchidee indigene coltivate dalla Marchese Paulucci, dei fiori di Platanthera 
bifolia, con speroni soprannumerari, e credo che appartenessero ai due petali 
aterali ; ma non vi feci allora abbastanza attenzione." 
[In a further note on this subject Sommier (Bull. Soc. Bot. Ital., March 
190%, р. 21) expresses the opinion that my original !ricalearata belongs to 
P. bifolia rather than to P. chlorantha—W. В. H., Sept. 1908.] 
