ABNORMAL CYPRIPEDIUM FLOWERS. 49 
of the right-hand cut surface after the section. There was a 
large canal traversing the column longitudinally, which commu- 
nicated above with the cavity of the labellum, and opened out 
under its adherent dorsal portion, ¢c. This canal was subsequently 
traced downwards, and was found to be continuous below with 
the cavity of the ovary. 
The upper dorsal part of the labellum, ¢(Pl. I. figs. 7,8; Pl. IT. 
fig. 9), below the point of its attachment to the stigma, 5, was 
found to be continued down this canal as a folded flap or down- 
growth, which hung quite freely in the abnormal passage, being 
only suspended at the point 0, and nowhere else attached to the 
column. 
The nature of the downgrowth of the labellum, enclosed in this 
canal, was best demonstrated by transverse sections taken at 
various levels, It was thin and membranous, and traversed by 
five longitudinal vascular strands. At the upper end it was folded 
lengthwise in three (fig. «)), but towards its lower free extremity 
it became much narrower (fig. (3)) and terminated in a blunt 
point. 
A general plan of a median vertical section of the flower is 
given in fig. 9, to show the relative position and relation of the 
labellum and its downgrowth to the column and other parts of 
the flower. The sepals and lateral petals are cut away, and the 
labellum is represented diagrammatically, the folds of the pro- 
longed portion lying in the abnormal canal being omitted for the 
sake of clearness. It will be noticed that the ovarian cavity is not 
closed above, but is continued into the canal passing through the 
base of the flower and column, and so is in direct communication 
with the exterior. The small figures “)....) represent trans- 
verse sections through the flower, the respective levels from 
which they are taken being indicated in Pl. Il. fig. 9 by cor- 
responding numbers. 
The note on C. Sedeni is communicated in view of the interest 
of the hybrid from its extreme liability to exhibit monstrous 
growths, so as to put on record a new variation till such time as 
it may be possible to deal with the hybrid in this respect 
exhaustively. That on C. Boralli is of interest as an isolated 
instance in which an orchid ovary has, so to speak, swallowed a 
portion of the labellum of the same flower. The specimen was 
communicated by Dr. Maxwell T. Masters. 
LINN. JOURN.—BOTANY, VOL. XXX. E 
