350 DK, U. T. MA.STEE9 ON A DOUELE-ELO^EBED ORCHIS. 



ovary or column or nectary distinct, thongla in some instances, in 

 the secondary flower, they are apparently present in a very rudi- 

 mentary state. The part where the colvimn ought to be in the 

 general flower, is a mass of bracts and incipient florets, forming a 

 depressed raceme, thus showing the prolification to be median 

 also. The malformed parts in the incipient flowers do not appear 

 to exceed the usual number of pieces in the regular flower of 

 Orchis.'' On examining the flowers to which Dr. Moore thus 

 alludes, I was struck, in the first pLace, with the general appear- 

 ance of the spike — the somewhat globiilar flowers, which were 

 very densely packed, giving a very different aspect to the plant 

 from that which it usually has. The flowers had, as the able 

 curator of Grlasnevin truly states, their labella directed towards 

 the axis, instead of towards the bracts as in ordinary OrcJiiS' 

 flowers. If I may be allowed the comparison, I should say that the 

 flowers very much resembled, except in colour, miniature cabbages 

 (PL X. fig. 1). In the description above cited, the blossoms are 

 said to be destitute of ovaries 5 but in those which I examined, 

 these organs were present, but, as they were not tAvisted as usual, 

 they more nearly resembled, in outward appearance, pedicels 

 than ovaries. A cross section, however, revealed a single cavity, 

 with (in some instances) traces of placenta and ovules (Ph X. 

 fig. 2). The untwisted state of the ovary is, as is well knoAvn, the 

 original condition of all Orchids, and it serves to account for the 

 unusual position of tlie labellum with reference to the axis of the 

 plant. Surmounting the ovary were the floral whorls, which, for 

 the convenience of description, I will arrange in seven series, the 

 eiglith and succeeding whorls being in too rudimentary a con- 

 dition and too closely crowded to admit of satisfactory examina- 

 tion (PL XL T.). The first whorl consisted of three sepals— two 

 posterior, and one anterior (PL XI. 1. 1, 1, 1). These did not diff*er 

 from the outer perianthial segments of an ordinary Orchis. Alter- 

 nating with these sepals were three petals (PL XI. i. 2, 2, 2), consti- 

 tuting the second whorl : of these one was a labellum, placed next 

 the axis, and provided with a spur, this latter appendage, how- 

 ever, being in some cases absent. The other two segments 

 resembled ordinary petals, but each one had in its axil a secondary 

 flower-bud— axillary prolification (PL X. fig. 3). No trace of 

 column was to be seen, but in its place a third verticil, consisting 

 of three petals, alternating with the members of the precedmg 

 whorl (PL XI. I. 3, 3, 3) : the anterior one bore a rudimentary 

 anther (PL X. fig. 4) ; while the pther two resembled labella in 



