is taken to localities beyond its natural range, the males 
of Lissopimpla semipunctata will visit the flowers and be- 
have toward them in the manner described above. It 1s 
now known that Lissopimpla semipunctata does not con- 
fine its attentions to Cryptostylis leptochila, but pseu- 
docopulates with three other Australian species of the 
genus: C.subulata Reichb.f., C.erecta R. Br. and C.ovata 
R. Br.‘ possessing as it were an orchidaceous harem. 
While Ophrys is essentially a European group with a 
few outlying representatives in western Asia and northern 
Africa, and includes approximately twenty-nine species, 
Cryptostylis extends from India to the South Sea Islands 
and comprises about thirty species. Cryptostylis is one 
of two genera referred by Rudolf Schlechter to the Cryp- 
tostylideae, a subtribe rather sharply set apart from its 
generic allies. This taxonomic isolation of Cryptostylis 
is significant when regarded in the light of Mrs. Cole- 
man’s observations. Its wide distribution in the tropics 
stimulates the expectation that when further studies are 
made of the methods by which the other species are pol- 
linated, new and equally startling relationships may be 
revealed. 
Since 1916 when Pouyanne’s observations were pub- 
lished, pseudocopulation has been recorded for at least 
six species of Ophrys and for four species of Cryptostylis. 
As Ophrys and Cryptostylis belong respectively to two 
of the basic subdivisions of the monandrous orchids and 
are widely separated, each the product of a distinct line 
of descent, it is evident that pseudocopulation was either 
a primitive development in the Orchidaceae or originated 
‘Mrs. Coleman has described the visits of an insect to another Austral- 
ian orchid, a species of Caladenia, and implies that pseudocopulation 
is performed, although as yet the identity of the insect has not been 
established and the actual removal of pollinia has not been observed. 
The Victorian Naturalist 46 (1930) 203-206. 
[14] 
