FLORAL DIPLOMACY. 



89 



Fig. 39. 



Fig. 40. 



Fig. 39. — Flower of Orchis purpurea. 

 Fig. 40. — Flower of Orchis militaris. 

 Fig. 41. — Flower of Orchis sijnia. 



of an Orchid flower), so that such insects carry them 

 to other Orchids where the sticky stigmatic surfaces 

 tear off the pollen-grains for themselves. A full 

 knowledge of the practice increases our admiration 

 for these aristocrats of the floral world ! 



The " Milkweeds " (^Asclepiadacece) of America 

 bear flowers which in 

 some respects ap- 

 proach those of 

 Orchids, both for their 

 remarkably high or- 

 ganisation and struc- 

 ture. They proceed a 

 stage farther than any 

 others, except perhaps those of Apocynum^ for they 

 possess an apparatus which catches flies not adapted 

 to fertilise their flowers, and holds them until they 

 are dead. Two-winged flies are the greatest sufferers 

 by this mechanism ; and any one keeping Asclepiads 

 in greenhouses will find such strangled flies in the 

 grasp of the flowers at almost any time during the 

 summer. We shall presently see how other plants 

 keep away unwelcome guests by sagacious devices — 

 the Asclepiads keep them off by real " spring-traps," 

 ruthlessly and fatally employed, and not kept for 

 mere threatening purposes. 



The contrivances set up by flowers to ensure 

 crossing are being found out almost every week, as 

 investigation proceeds. In the works of Lubbock 



