1866. | Botany and Vegetable Physiology. 83 
this local development of the labellum, no part of the perianth 
appears to conduce directly to the fertilization of the flower, but 
the extraordinary modification of the columnar organs effects what 
is required. The lateral petals, which in so many South African 
Ophrez are of the utmost importance, are of no direct service in 
Bonatea. The prominent and magnificent group of cohering 
sepals and petals appears to serve the purposes of protecting and 
supporting the stigmatic processes, and of affording a convenient 
landing place for insects. Possibly, too, its singular form may give 
it some attractive influence. It may be added that Mr. Darwin 
especially directed Mr. Trimen’s attention to this species, and re- 
quested him to investigate its structure, but Mr. Trimen’s observations 
have hitherto only been made upon cultivated specimens, and the 
evidence is, therefore, not quite perfect. 
Dimorphism, to which attention has so often been directed of 
late, has been found by Dr. Dickie to occur in Eriophorum angusti- 
folium. In the neighbourhood of Aberdeen, he observed in May 
that there were obviously two forms of flower, one with slender 
spikes, having only stigmas visible; the other, with shorter and 
blunter spikes, with very prominent anthers and short stigmas. 
In the first, on dissection it was found that in each flower there 
were three stamens in a rudimentary condition, which remained 
so till the end of the month, when there was still no pollen in 
them; while in the second form the anthers were large and pro- 
minent, yielding copious pollen ; the stigmas were shorter than the 
stamens, but were apparently well formed, although shrivelled ; 
they had evidently exercised their special function, and this at the 
time when the stigmas of the other form were still fresh and 
their tissues full of fluid. In both forms the seeds apparently 
reached their full ripeness, and on dissection there was no apparent 
difference, and about forty seeds of each form were sown under 
precisely the same conditions. Almost every seed of them from 
plants with large anthers and short stigmas sprang up and con- 
tinued to grow; while not more than five or six of the seeds from 
the other form showed any sign of life. The experiment was 
repeated with the same result. Dr. Dickie adds that having 
examined some duplicates of this species from the shores of Davis’s 
Straits, he finds that they also have the two forms. 
The Imperial Society of Natural Sciences at Cherbourg have 
proposed a prize question for the year 1868: ‘ Sea-wrack, consi- 
dered with reference to Agriculture and Industry.” The prize 
will be a Gold Medal of the value of 500 francs. 
M. Lestiboudois continues his investigations upon the fluids of 
plants, in the ‘Comptes Rendus,’ his latest being with reference to 
the existence of solid and liquid matters in the trachex, which are 
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