CREATION BY LAW. 271 



A Case of Orchis-structure explained by Natural 

 Selection. 



There is a Madagascar Orchis the Angnccum ses- 

 quipeclale with an immensely long and deep nectary. 

 How did such an extraordinary organ come to be 

 developed ? Mr. Darwin's explanation is this. The 

 pollen of this flower can only be removed by the base 

 of the proboscis of some very large moths, when trying 

 to get at the nectar at the bottom of the vessel. The 

 moths w r ith the longest probosces would do this most 

 effectually ; they would be rewarded for their long 

 tongues by getting the most nectar ; whilst on the other 

 hand, the flowers with the deepest nectaries would be 

 the best fertilized by the largest moths preferring 

 them. Consequently, the deepest nectar ied Orchids 

 and the longest tongued moths would each confer on the 

 other an advantage in the battle of life. This would 

 tend to their respective perpetuation, and to the con- 

 stant lengthening of nectaries and probosces. Now 

 let it be remembered, that what we have to account 

 for, is only the unusual length of this organ. A nec- 

 tary is found in many orders of plants and is especially 

 common in the Orchids, but in this one case only is 

 it more than a foot long. How did this arise ? We 

 begin with the fact, proved experimentally by Mr. 

 Darwin, that moths do visit Orchids, do thrust their 

 spiral trunks into the nectaries, and do fertilize them 

 by carrying the pollinia of one flower to the stigma of 

 another. He has further explained the exact mechanism 



