BATH FLORA, FERTILISATION, ETC. 221 



flowers are abundantly fertilised by one or two pollen-masses. 

 In either case new pollen-masses are carried off from fresh 

 flowers and appUed to the fertilisation of other blossoms on 

 the same, and eventually on those of different individuals. Cases 

 like this and many others show how " sedulous, sure, and 

 economical are the processes of Nature for the intercrossing of 

 hermaphrodite flowers." The accompanying illustration (PI. 

 XXIV., Fig. lo) will serve to show both what a large supply of 

 pollen-grains each pollen-mass contains, and how slender the 

 elastic threads which connect these pollen-packets are. PI. 

 XXIII. , Fig. I, is a sketch of a section of Habenaria chlorantha 

 (Greater Butterfly Orchis), highly magnified, showing the anthers, 

 stigma, nectary, and labellum. Fig. 2 represents a pollinium of 

 the same Orchis, greatly enlarged, so as to show pollen-masses, 

 caudicle, and viscid disc. 



This is a concise general description of the mode of fertilisa- 

 tion of our British Orchids. It would occupy a much larger 

 space than I have at my disposal to give a detailed account of the 

 exact mode in which each species of this rather numerous family 

 is fertilised. I will, therefore, give a description of two or three 

 species only for the purpose of pointing out the different modifica- 

 tions of the reproductive organs and the viodiis operaiidi. I need 

 scarcely say that to those who take more than a casual interest in 

 the subject, the study of the late Charles Darwin's admirable 

 work on the fertilisation of Orchids will afford a rich treat. I am 

 largely indebted to this unrivalled treatise for the descriptions I 

 have given in this paper. They may therefore be relied upon as 

 being accurate as far as they go. I have selected Orchis mascida 

 and Orchis morio for the purpose of illustrating the manner in 

 which the members of the Orchis family are fertilised. O. 

 pyramidalis, according to Mr. C. Darwin, is the most perfectly 

 constructed British Orchis. 



From what has been already stated, it will be noticed that the 

 column of an Orchis is a body formed of a stamen, a style, and a 

 stigma, all grown into one solid body, and this is the great 

 peculiarity of the Orchis tribe. Its genera vary amazingly in the 

 structure of the anther, the column, the lip, and, indeed, of all 

 the parts, but in the consolidation of the style and stamen they 



