56 



HARD WICKE ' S S CIENCE- G SSI P. 



leaves, bore no spike. The check to the system, no 

 doubt, prevents the juices from being elaborated and 

 ripened, and so the finishing-touch, as it were, is 

 never put, and the spike suffers. 



The leaves are exceedingly interesting, and will 

 amply repay all the trouble of microscopic investiga- 

 tion. They are radical, simple, linear, smooth, with 

 entire margin, common vernation, and purple spots. 

 A spotted leaf is called coloratum, because it is not 

 entirely green ; they are often blistered {bullatum) 

 also. They lie most frequently in the form of a five- 

 fingered star, they absorb a large amount of sun- 

 action, and are most conspicuous. A leaf consists of 

 (a) an epidermis, or stout white spotted upper skin, 

 arranged in hexagonal cells, like the skin of a 

 crocodile, ( /3) a layer of chlorophyll, and (7) an under- 

 skin perforated with numerous stomata which are 

 admirably situated to perform their functions. Free 

 from the dust and the sun's rays, they are useful to 

 catch the evaporation of the soil, to give off superfluous 

 moisture, and to assimilate material from the air for 

 food. The stomata must play an important part in 

 the formation of the spike, which does not appear 

 till the leaves are fully developed. The skin of the 

 upper surface is more difficult to explain, but the 

 beautiful appearance of the spots, either when seen, 

 handsome and sullen in the woods, or blood -red and 

 hexagonal under the microscope, arrests the attention 

 and forces from us the questions, why should the 

 leaves be spotted ? Do the spots protect the plant 

 in any way by repelling foes, or are they merely 

 ornamental ? Certainly their resemblance to the 

 common snake is very striking, and as, according to 

 some botanists, the orchid family survives by an 

 organised system of deception, these purple spots 

 may possibly be intended to deceive mice or other 

 enemies. They are arranged without any order, 

 sometimes many and large, sometimes few and small ; 

 and, as far as I have been able to observe, the leaves 

 of those plants which grow in hedges have the most 

 spots. Is this only capricious chance ? or does 

 Sprengel's conviction, that the wise Author of Nature 

 hasn't created a single hair in vain, point to some set 

 purpose ? During the past two years I have repeatedly 

 tried to ascertain this, but those gentlemen with 

 whom I have communicated on the subject, have 

 not considered the above suggestion sufficiently esta- 

 blished by facts to be worthy of much notice. They 

 argue that if the spots are intended to deceive mice, 

 what is the fate of those varieties of the common 

 orchis which have no spots, and how can mice be 

 deceived in the dark ? But if any organism, through 

 misfortune or fault, abandons a protection provided 

 by nature, then : it must be content with reduced 

 safety ; for the spotted leaves generally seem less 

 mangled than the plain. At any rate, it seems almost 

 incredible that such conspicuous marking should be 

 there for mere beauty apart from utility ; and the 

 quaint Scotch superstition, though interesting from 



the piety with which it is conceived, does not offer 

 a substantial explanation. It is strange that spots 

 in the animal world should be connected with 

 venom and rapacity. Can the spots secrete acrid 

 j uices which emit an odour by night, and form a 

 protection from slugs by day ? Mr. Britten, of 

 the British Museum, and Mr. Stansfield, of 

 Sale, do not think they form any protection, and I 

 have frequently noticed leaves much spotted yet 

 much gnawed ; though how much more they would 

 have been gnawed, had the spots not been there, 

 it is impossible to say. This theory of mine is 

 occasioned by absence of information and the con- 

 clusion that the leaves elaborate the spike ; for the 

 spike suffers when the leaves are damaged, and when 

 once fairly out in February, the leaves do not grow 

 much larger. The plain-leaf variety I regard as a 

 straggler on the line of march, who, for some reason, 

 has not kept up with the main body, and whose kit 

 and accoutrements are consequently not in perfect 

 order. This may be the result of disturbance, soil, 

 manure, lime, &c, for the specimens experimented 

 with last year had every one of them paler flowers and 

 fewer spots than the year before ; and Mr. Wallace 

 has shown that spots, eyes, and lines vary and appear 

 on the most highly modified parts. This, again, 

 connects the flower and the leaf. A spot, when 

 examined by the microscope, presents a beautiful 

 series of hexagonal cells, like a honeycomb, depressed 

 towards the centre, with a red hue, and light fawn- 

 coloured ridges intervening. The colouring matter 

 (erythrophyll) coagulates very soon, though, if dried 

 at once, it retains its tint. 



Finally, can the age of the orchis be determined by 

 the number of the leaves? Seedlings with one and 

 two leaves are continually found in April, but these 

 have no spike. I have not found a spike with less 

 than three leaves ; so that, supposing a leaf is added 

 successively year by year, the plant that has ten 

 leaves must represent the accumulated reserve of 

 twelve or more years. These are points which it 

 would be deeply interesting to discover. 



The inflorescence. Hitherto we have been con- 

 sidering the personal organs of the common orchis, 

 or those relating to the individual vitality of the 

 plant ; now we come to the relative organs, or those 

 concerned with the reproduction of the species. 

 These in all flowers are the most conspicuous, orna- 

 mental, and interesting parts, and they compose what 

 is generally understood by a flower. Our poetical 

 ideas are centred in the flower, and most people 

 regard the flower only, but an inquiry into the 

 reasons of the different shapes and structures of 

 flowers, so far from being dry and prosaic, is found 

 to be, since Charles Darwin and others have brought 

 their intellects to bear on the subject, an entirely new 

 delight, which affords sure answers to otherwise un- 

 solved riddles. For we have now arrived at the actual 

 flower that will always be memorable in the annals 



