54 ORCHIS SPECTABILIS. SHOWY ORCHIS. 



races shall not be as they are now, and in pursuit of this plan 

 Nature must of necessity have a destructive as well as a preserv- 

 ative policy, and how a plant behaves may not therefore be 

 necessarily for its own good in the sense in which we understand 

 goodness. Yet there Is a tendency to question the plant as to 

 the reasons for the phenomena it exhibits, while the questions 

 should really be addressed to an external power which is looking 

 into the future far beyond. 



Not only may we ask, Why are these flowers arranged for 

 cross-fertilization ? but, Why are they made to simulate so many 

 forms of the animal world? Some have supposed that the 

 resemblance to insects was to attract insects, but it is difficult to 

 understand how the Orchids accomplish this any better than 

 those flowers which have no peculiar form. If there were any 

 design in the relationship between the flowers and the animate 

 forms they represent, it might have been to frighten the insects 

 away, for we rarely see an insect interfering with another while 

 it is at work. Indeed, this point has been actually suggested by 

 one of the poets, in the following lines : — 



" The orchis race, with varied beauty, charm 

 And mock the exploring fly, or bee's aerial form." 



These remarks are offered that the student may not hastily 

 decide from form, or the arrangements of structure, that the 

 immediate purposes of Nature are clearly manifested. Very 

 often the plant's behavior has a direct relationship to its individ- 

 ual prosperity, but by no means always. Our species has no 

 striking resemblance to any particular insect, but it attracts all 

 lovers of wild flowers by the very pretty contrast of the deli- 

 cate rosy-pink upper sepal with the large white labellum or lip. 

 The unusually long spur is a striking characteristic. 



The name " Orchis " was already in use by the ancients ; but 

 with the progress of botany, the species bearing this name have 

 been placed in various genera, so that the one we illustrate is 



