372 • EETTEWS. 



tliis question of structural hermaphroditism is a fundamental one ; 

 and the rule that the more perfect plants are so constructed must 

 occur to every one as a notable and insuperable objection to cross- 

 fertiUzatiou, in default of its being shown that first impressions are 

 in this, as in so many other cases, utterly fallacious ; or, in other 

 words, that we have utterly misinterpreted the phenomena we have 

 hitherto recorded. 



In his introductory pages the author indeed states that the pri- 

 mary object of his work is " to show that the contrivances by which 

 " Orchids are fertilized are as varied and almost as perfect as any of 

 *' the most beautiful adaptations of the animal kingdom ;" and such, 

 no doubt, was his primary object in publishing his observations in^the 

 form of a separate treatise, addressed to the general reader ; but the 

 real primary object of the investigation, and therefore, in its best 

 sense, of the work too, is involved in his secondary object, " to show 

 "that these contrivances have for their main object the ferti- 

 "lization of each flower by the pollen of another flower." It is 

 under this last point of view that we shall notice its contents, con- 

 fining oiu-selves mainly to an endeavour to make them and their 

 importance clear to the readers of the Natural Sistory Review, as- 

 suming that they, like ourselves, were previously very iusufiiciently 

 acquainted with the whole subject of the structure of Orchid flowers 

 and the functions of their parts. We must however, in limine say, 

 that without an accurate knowledge of many Orchids, the whole sub- 

 ject is not intelligible, and that to understand it thoroughly requires 

 a practised botanist. The key to the whole lies in the right compre- 

 hension of the exact structure, position, and relations of the ros- 

 teUum to the other parts of the flower in every species commented 

 on : and when we add that this rostellmn is usually a very minute 

 organ ; that it is a compound and highly differentiated body ; that 

 the figures it assumes are seldom comprehensible from descriptions ; 

 that it alters much in form during develoj)ment and suddenly changes 

 its aspect after fertilization ; that its homologies are obscure and its 

 functions often intricate and always dependent on external agencies 

 for their exercise ; — it will be obvious that Mr. Darwin's is no work 

 for the general reader and our task one of unusual difficulty. To put 

 the matter more plainly, we do not believe that any student can, 

 after his three months course of botany as usually taught in Europe, 

 describe accurately the rosteUum of any British genus of Orchids ; 

 and yet we must assume that our readers can. Such being the case, 

 it may be wondered why Mr. Darwin chose the popular form for his 

 treatise ; for his many and good reasons we must refer to his intro- 

 duction, adding, that for other reasons we are glad that he has done 

 so, amongst them, because Mr. Darwin's wT^itings afford the best 

 specimen in English biological literature, of rigidly accurate descrip- 

 tions expressed in perfectly simple language ; of a style and language, 

 in short, that are equally admirable and charming ; we are glad too 

 that the public should have in an available form the means of seeing 



