4 o 



THE ORCHIDS OF NEW ENGLAND. 



to stick fast to the side of the face (the eye most likely, as 

 the discs, to quote Darwin, ' cannot adhere to a scaly or 

 very hairy surface,') of the first one that dips its proboscis 

 into the attractive nectary." Moreover, as the discs are un- 

 covered, and " the viscid matter serves to attach the pollen- 

 masses firmly, without setting hard, there would be no use in 

 the insects being delayed by having to bore holes at several 

 points through the inner membrane of the nectaries," and, 

 therefore, in these open nectaries " we find copious nectar 

 ready stored for rapid suction." 



Gymnadenia and Platanthera are now included in the genus 

 Habenaria, and this genus, together with Orchis, forms, in this 

 country, the tribe Ophrydese. If it is a virtue to be a True 

 Orchis, the Habenarias, or Rein-Orchises, are compensated in 

 proportion to their departure from the standard, by acquiring 

 more attractive features : gayer colors, fringed or divided lips, 

 and generally speaking, greater height. Gray's Botany con- 

 tains a list of nineteen, and of this fair sisterhood thirteen are 

 natives of New England. 



The first to offer itself for a spring bouquet is Habenaria 

 Hookcri, or the Smaller Two-leaved Orchis, placed by some 

 of my correspondents before C. parvifloriun, the difference in 

 dates of flowering being a matter of but a few days. Find- 

 ing it in the same localities with Orchis spectabilis, you would 

 trace a family likeness at once, in the bracted, angled scape 

 and flat-lying leaves, if going no further into the study. The 

 colors it wears are green and yellow, and it cannot be styled 

 prepossessing, but, nevertheless, it has a decided dignity of 

 mien. In its structure it is much like the British H. chlor- 

 antha, but its anther-cells " are more widely divergent, conse- 

 quently a moth, unless of gigantic size, would be able to suck 

 the copious nectar without touching either disc ; but this risk is 

 avoided in the following manner: the central line of the stigma 

 is prominent, and the lip, instead of hanging down, as in most 



