256 MR. J. T. MOGGRIDGE ON SOME ORCHIDS 
Observations on some Orchids of the South of France. By Jony 
Trenerne Mocextper, Esq. Communicated by the President. 
[Read Nov. 3, 1864. ] 
[Pate XVI.] 
Durine the past winter and spring spent in the South, I had 
some opportunities of observing the Orchidace® of those parts, 
and noting down what seemed to me strange and new about them. 
The ‘ Fertilization of Orchids, by Charles Darwin, Esq., was of 
course the base upon which I worked, and which thus opened out 
for me a fresh and most delightful source of occupation. 
Orchis longibracteata, Bivona (Aceras longibracteata, Grenier 
and Godron), is the first orchid which comes into flower; and as 
it commences blossoming on or before New Year's day, a long 
period is allowed over which to extend one's investigation. I 
propose, therefore, to show first how that plant is adapted for 
fertilization, and what insect is an agent in the matter. The 
caydicles of the pollinia are united on to one common gland (as 
in Orchis pyramidalis), and placed in a pouch, which stands higher 
with reference to the surface of the labellum than in any Orchis 
I have examined. This elevation admits of the interference of a 
larger and stronger insect—of just such a one, in fact, as Xylocopa 
violacea, a specimen of which I had the good fortune to see taken, 
bearing the pollinia of this species fastened on its forehead. By 
reference to Pl. XVI. fig. 1a, the relative positions of the large 
pear-shaped stigmatic cavity of the pouch, and the labellum will 
be seen. ln the dissection of this (5) the greater part of the 
labellum has been removed, leaving one of the small guiding-plates 
on the further side. When first taken the pollinia are widely 
separated and upright (vc); but by convergence the masses are 
soon drawn together (d), and then prostrated (e). The motion 
in either plane is, in unmutilated specimens, distinct, the pros- 
tration always setting in after convergence. For comparison, I 
have drawn (fig. 3) a similar view of Orchis hircina, with a 
foreign specimen of which I have been favoured since my return 
to England. Orchis hircina has the pouch very low in the flower ; 
and the structure will be seen to vary in several other details. 
Its pollinia, judging from those furnished by that spike alone, 
accomplish their convergence during their prostration, and not by 
separate motions. 
I have myself seen Orchis longibracteata visited by several spe- 
cies of Hymenopterous and Dipterous insects ; and I feel sure that 
