MR. R. A. ROLFE ON THE APOSTASIER. 221 
colour, showing very prominently through the thin testa (fig. 9). 
The reticulations of the testa are small and very numerous. In 
Apostasia Wallichii the shape is more nearly ellipsoidal, or rhom- 
boid-ellipsoidal, the embryo apparently filing the entire testa, 
except a small narrow portion at the base, which is of a paler 
colour than the rest. The reticulations of the testa are also much 
fewer and larger (fig. 27). Other species of Apostasia seem sub- 
stantially identical in this respect. 
Fertilization. — Notwithstanding the comparatively simple 
structure as compared with other Orchids, and the dry simple 
pollen, the group is certainly entomophilous, both the genera 
showing decided adaptations for insect-fertilization. Whether 
they secrete nectar it is impossible, from dried specimens, to say ; 
but, according to Wallieh, Apostasia exhales a fragrant perfume. 
In Neuwiedia the segments are subconnivent (fig. 3), and there- 
fore an insect must enter from the mouth of the flower. 1t would 
alight on the lip and, on crawling into the flower, its back would 
invariably come into contact with the three versatile anthers, and 
thus become dusted with the pollen. On subsequently visiting 
another flower it would as surely brush against the oblique slightly 
down-curved stigma and leave some of the pollen behind. In 
Apostasia the arrangement is quite different; the segments are 
spreading or recurved, and the anthers stand suberect in the 
centre of the flower. lt seems equally certain that the genus is 
insect-fertilized, though in what way does not seem so clear as 
in the preceding case. The differences between the two sections 
of the genus seem to be in some way connected with the fertili- 
zation ; though the use of the staminode seems an obscure point, 
unless it be to prevent the insect from alighting on that side of 
the flower towards the back of the anthers. This and other 
points yet remain to be settled— whether the anthers are mature 
before the stigma, whether any nectar is secreted, also some 
points of structural detail which I have found it impossible to 
determine from dried specimens or from the scanty materials at 
command. I regret that none of the species are in cultivation, a 
fact probably arising from their not being sufficiently showy for 
introduction as garden plants. 
AFFINITIES. 
This comparatively simple organization is highly instructive, 
and stands in the strongest contrast with that of so many of our 
