between one specimen and another in the basal lobes or 
auricles. (cf. plate on p. 177) At first these differences 
are very perplexing. An attempt to utilize them in the 
recognition of two species, one American, the other Eu- 
rasian, would almost certainly necessitate the admission 
of several additional species separable by characters so 
slight and trivial that an attempt to make them clear by 
a description would be extremely difficult even if possi- 
ble. Asa Gray originally thought there was a difference 
between the auricles or lateral lobes; those of the Eura- 
sian plant being directed forward, those of the American 
plant being rounded and inrolled. The flowers of the 
Japanese specimen I have examined do not justify this 
view and between ‘‘triangular-hastate’’ and a distinctly 
three-lobed labellum, and between a short triangular ter- 
minal lobe and an elongated linear terminal lobe, every 
gradation may be traced. If the differences in the lobes 
are diacritical | think their value might be varietal at 
most. (ef. plate on p. 177) 
All in all I believe the variation in the labellum and 
the differences emphasized by Professor Fernald would 
be regarded as inconsequential if they were to be ob- 
served among plants growing together in the same geo- 
graphical area. Nevertheless, the position of the labellum 
is extraordinarily interesting, especially so, if leaning to- 
ward the conclusion that M. brachypoda and M. mono- 
phyllos are atter all conspecific, we disregard slight di- 
mensional dissimilarities in other parts of the flower: 
dissimilarities such as might originate in alliances that 
had been separated geographically for a long time. The 
position of the labellum in view of what has happened in 
Malaxis paludosa takes on fascinating significance. It 
arouses curiosity with regard to biological phenomena 
that have prevailed in widely separated regions where the 
influential association with unlike insects may have 
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