THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 2 \ 



in which the latter is fertilized, as retold by Prof. Gray,* 

 together with the figures that accompany the original de- 

 scription. We see in fig. A, above the entrance to the spur- 

 shaped nectary, the two-lobed stigma, a surface so sticky as to 

 hold fast whatever substance touches it ; dust, insects too 

 feeble to detach themselves, or the pollen that should properly 

 be placed there. Above the stigma is the rostellum, which has 

 assumed the shape of a pouch or cup ; and over the rostellum is 

 the anther, with its two wallet-like cells, each containing a tiny 

 lump of pollen, which may be likened to an exclamation point, 

 from its shape and the surprising things it does. A pollinium, 

 or pollen-mass, consists of " a mass of coarse grains fastened 

 together by elastic and cobwebby tissue," a tapering caudicle or 

 stalk, and " a minute piece or disc of membrane with a ball of 

 viscid matter on the under side." These two discs are enclosed 

 and kept moist by the rostellum. 



"The pollen, although placed tantalizingly close to the stig- 

 ma, is incapable of reaching it." Nor is this desirable, as "a 

 stigma is more sensitive to the pollen of another flower than to 

 that of its own," and the chief object of the peculiar construc- 

 tion of these flowers is to secure cross-fertilization. The first 

 winged visitor, moth or butterfly, attracted to the newly opened 

 blossom, very likely by its bright colors, now comes to render 

 aid, and unconsciously pay for the nectar abstracted, for it can 

 hardly reach the entrance of the nectary without hitting its 

 head or proboscis against the rostellum, the surface of which is 

 so delicate that at the least touch " it ruptures transversely 

 along the top." " This act of rupturing changes the front part 

 of the rostellum into a lip, which can be easily depressed," and 

 "when thoroughly depressed, the two balls of viscid matter 

 are exposed." If the insect alights on the lip, "its best 

 landing place," it will naturally face the opening into the nec- 

 tary as it crawls up, and in Orchis spectabilis the sepals and 



* American Journal of Science, vol. 34, II Series. 



