82 Rhodora [April 



flowers It is also probable that pollination is effected by nocturnal 

 insects. 



In connection with the subject of pollination in Spiranthes it is 

 worthy of note that Spiranthes ccrnua forms embryos without polli- 

 nation. 1 



In Beihefte zum Botanischen Centralblatt XXXVII (1920) Abt. 

 II, 317-454 Rudolf Schlechter published his revision of the Spir- 

 anthese in which he made changes among our American species of 

 Spiranthes. I shall take up these changes in the alphabetical sequence 

 of the species and make such observations as seem necessary at this 

 time. 



1. Spiranthes Amcsiana Schltr. This species is based on material 

 collected for my herbarium by A. A. Eaton in Florida (no. 921). I 

 distributed this material under the name of S. tortilis Rich. Schlech- 

 ter relies on two characters for the recognition of his species, 

 namely, the conspicuous claw of the lip and glandular hairs on the 

 lip base. He expresses his opinion as follows: " Diese Species ist 

 von Ames als S. tortilis Rich, identifiziert und verteilt worden. Tat- 

 siichlich ahnelt sie dieser sehr stark, ist aber von ihr sowohl wie 

 von alien iibrigen Arten der Verwandtschaft spezifisch recht gut 

 unterschieden durch den auffallenden Lippennagel und die Behaar- 

 ung am Grunde der Lippenplatte. " These characters have broken 

 down absolutely in my attempts to apply them in studies of Eaton's 

 no. 921 and authentic material of S. tortilis from Cuba, Jamaica and 

 Porto Rico. As Schlechter referred specimens collected for me by 

 A. E. Wight in the Bahamas to his S. Amcsiana I studied Wight's 

 collection, but with the same results that I obtained in my studies 

 of duplicates of the type number (Eaton's no. 921). The glandular 

 hairs at the base of the lip on which Schlechter relies in part for 

 specific distinction are found in all of the West Indian specimens 

 referable to S. tortilis Rich, that I have examined. Or, to be more 

 explicit, the hairs on the calli, margin and surface of the base of the 

 lip are the same in character and distribution in Eaton's Floridian 

 specimens numbered 921, in Wight's Bahaman specimens referred 

 to by Schlechter and in authentic S. tortilis from the West Indies. 

 The claw of the lip is equally conspicuous in all specimens examined 

 and does not, as I observed it, serve as a differentiating character. 

 Differences in size of the flower, variation in the denticulation of 



i Leavitt in Rhodora, iii (1901) 61. 



