^88 ORCHIDACEiE. 



OPHRYS, Linn. 



739. 0. apifera, Huds. Bee Orchis. 



Native ; on downs, banks, and in rough pastures, and 

 stony places ; chiefly on limestone and oolite. Kather 

 common, and in some years very plentiful. We have 

 seen a striking variety of this species, of which only 

 four specimens were found on the Leigh bide of the 

 Avon in July, 1885. In all the flowers on the spike, 

 the labellum, viewed in front, instead of being broadly 

 oval or semiglobose, presented a long triangular outline 

 four times as long as broad, tapering from the base to 

 the normal long reflexed point of the terminal lobe. 



G. There are many old records for St. Vincent's Rocks, 

 and for Clifton and Durdham Downs, where formerly 

 the Bee Orchis may have been ver}' abundant. As 

 might be expected, it is now almost eradicated ; although 

 in most seasons half a dozen plants are still to be seen 

 by those who know- where to look. Bank of Avon below 

 Bristol. Cromhall. llenbury. Kiugsweston Down. 



S. Bank of Avon about the Portishead Railway, and on 

 the slopes under Leigh Woods. Scattered all over a 

 rough pasture near Failand Inn, Failand Hill. Hills 

 near Clevedon. Elevated grassy banks near Cougres- 

 bury, where four or five hundred plants have been seen 

 blooming together. Brean Down, in plenty 1885. 

 Cheddar. Sandford. Tickenliam. fatten. Portishead. 

 Clevedon road-side near Wi-axall. Frequent about 

 Dunkerton, Englishcombe, Combe Hay, and elsewhere 

 towards Bath. " Abundant among the sand-hills at 

 Burnham, J. C. Collins." New Bot. G. Still there, 1885. 

 Marshy sands near Borrow. Ebbor. Easton. Lyat, near 

 Wells. Whitchurch. About Buckland Dinham and 



