THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. * 107 



essentially its own and like unto nothing else. This plant 

 prefers the open bog, where it came into bloom about June 

 20, and flowered until July 25. The seed was ripe by Sep- 

 tember 23. So far only two stations are known in the 

 county. At one of these it is very abundant, growing in 

 thousands. Another showy plant of the open bog is Calo- 

 pogon pulchellus. The most peculiar feature of this orchid 

 is the position of the labellum which is uppermost. This 

 is due to there being no twist in the ovar^^ as there is in 

 most orchids. The position of the labellum at once made 

 me curious to witness the pollination of this species, and 

 after much watching succeeded in doing so. 



The following is the process : — The bee alights upon the 

 labellum, which bends over near the base (three bracket- 

 like ridges prevent it doing so elsewhere) until the back of 

 the bee is in contact -with the column. The bee (which is 

 of course upside-down) sips the nectar secreted by the 

 glands at the base of the column. As it withdraws, its 

 back opens the operculum (lid) of the anther, and a pollin- 

 ium (or several) adheres to its back. On visiting the next 

 flower the pollinium slips past the convex surface of the 

 closed operculum, but as the bee withdraws, the pollinium 

 is caught by the slight beak of the stigma and adheres to 

 it, the bee meanwhile receiving another pollinium from the 

 anther of this flower. This species is fairh* well distrib- 

 uted and at some stations is very abundant. It flowered 

 from June 22 to July 20 and the seed was ripe by Septem- 

 ber 23. 



Liparis loeselii, the tway -blade, is a little inconspicu- 

 ous greenish orchid, which inhabits some of our swales 

 and bogs. It bloomed from June 16 to July 1. In the 

 open, quaking bog where Pogonia and Calopogon abound , 

 another beautiful orchid Arethusa hulbosa,\s to be found. 

 It is not present in anything like the same quantities as 

 the two other chief inhabitants of this attractive spot, but 

 is quite common. It chooses the very wettest portion of 

 the bog, where the covering of moss is so thin that as you 

 v^alk you are aWays in the middle of a dell some two feet 



