OF THE SOUTH OF FRANCE. 257 
many of the more minute Ephemere are attracted by this and 
some other Orchidacex, as a small spider of a colour wonderfully 
matched to the flowers or bracts constantly spins his web round 
the spike, the threads passing in front of the stigmatic chamber. 
On one occasion I had a close view of a Dipterous insect 
at work on the labellum of a flower of Orchis longibracteata ; 
the plant, being in a pot on a balcony, was raised to the level 
of my eye. I saw that the proboscis was dipped into each of 
the open cells of honeycomb texture, and instantly withdrawn; 
but, judging from the lengthy stay of the insect on the flower, it 
found in these tiny glistening cavities some liquid worth its search. 
Being anxious to ascertain whether the spikes were more attrac- 
tive to the agents of fertilization at any definite stage of the blos- 
soming, I made the following notes. I must premise that, by the 
average number of blossoms, those on any one spike may be taken 
as about 30, but they range from 15 to 50. 
Date | Number of, Number of! Number of 
of expanded | stigmas pairs of 
gathering. flowers. | touched. | pollinia taken. 
Spike No: T... 18 4 0 
March 1. EU m JB 7 2 0 
be n HL 11 1 0 
Spike No: I:......... 12 1 4 
Des TEL 2. 10 5 0 
»55 s IE oceans 5 3 2 
7 5255 IMP 10 0 0 
nog ne 16 2 0 
ee E 8 1 [ 0 
5 75 VI e 11 3 3 
» VIEL 12 2 3 
Spike No. È ......... 10 1 3 
5 5 Ib 23 4 5 
g^ 9 5o o EE. 34 7 7 
n d Ves... 36 10 9 
M ur a E. 24 0 Oo 
ee A a SN No ees 46 13 22 
A plant of this Orchis placed by me in the shade had no pol- 
linia removed or stigmas fertilized; and I notice that this is fre- 
quently the case in places where the sun does not strike. When 
I found that the blossoms on this spike were beginning to fade 
(which was not till the 59th day after the expansion of the first 
flower), I remarked that all the stigmatie tissue was quite dried 
up, with the exception of part of the surface of one quite at the 
top. I then touched the pouch of the flower 59 days old, and the 
gland immediately adhered ; and though the caudicles were weak, 
