154 



NATIVE BRITISH ORCHIDACE^ 



(2) The caudicles are extremely short, scarcely more than half as long as the nvmute 

 pollinia. I succeeded in withdrawing one of the poUinia on a bristle, but ^ot both. 

 No doubt this could be done if the bristle could be inserted exactly m the middle 



(3) I could find no trace of the central plate shown in Reichenbach's Fig. 6.' Ihe 

 space there is clear, and the entrance to the spur visible, also anther, rostellum and 



stigma (PL F, fig. 4 (p. 123)). , , 



(4) The two divergent stigmas are situated on the front surface of a short lobe 

 of the column on each side, as in Gjmnadenia, i.e. the column is 3-lobed (PL 31. 



B I and B 2). , 



(5) The globules of pollen detach themselves very easily from the pollmia, and 

 fall on the stigma just below them. It is diihcult to open a flower without causing 

 this to take place. . 



Reichenbach's Figs. 6, 7 and 9' must have been taken from a very abnormal plant 

 (he only had a few buds from a cultivated specimen to examine), and cannot be 

 reconciled with the Riviera plant. Mile A. Camus informs me that in the numerous 

 plants gathered at St Tropez, Var, France, the presence of the pouch of the rostellum 

 never appeared doubtful, and that she had never seen a trace of the disc-like organ 

 shown in Reichenbach's Fig. 6. 



Neotinea INTACTA Rchb. £, Dc pollin. Orch. p. 20 (1852), who revived the 

 specific name intacta first given by Link in Schrad. ]oum. p. 322 (1799;- 



SATYRIUMMACULATUMDesf.(l8oo). S. DENSIFLORUM BrOt. (1804). ORCHIS 

 ATLANTICA Willd. (1805). O. SECUNDIFLORUM Bert. (1806). O. DENSI- 



FLORA Desf. (1808). Gymnadenia Linkii PresL (1826). Himanto- 



GLOSSUM SECUNDIFLORUM Rchb. p. (1830). ACERAS SECUNDIFLORA Lindl. 

 (1832). TlNEACYLINDRICABiv.(l833). OpHRYS S AGITTATA Munby (1847)- 

 ACERAS INTACTA Rchb. f. (1851). 



Fertilisation. The white or rose-coloured flowers, the presence of a spur filled 

 with free honey, and the mechanism for attaching the pollinia to visitmg insects, 

 show that the flower is organised for cross-pollination by their agency. Wliile this 

 no doubt occurs through minute insects, it is difificult to observe, and has not been 

 recorded. The plant, however, fertilises itself by its own pollen. The pollen-packets 

 are very lightly attached to the pollinia, and automatically fall on the sticky stigmas, 

 placed like baskets just below to receive them. It is hard to find open flowers m 

 which this has not occurred. Nearly every flower produces a seed-capsule. 



' Seemans, loc. cit. 



