242 ABOUT ORCHIDS. 
begun to swell, rising amidst the verdure. Each 
flower spike which has been crossed carries its neat 
label, registering the father’s name and the date 
of union. 
Mr. Maynard takes the two first virgin blooms to 
hand: Cypripedium Sanderianum, and Cypripedium 
Godefroy@, as it chances. Let us cut off the lip 
in order to see more clearly. Looking down now 
upon the flower, we mark two wings, the petals, 
which stood on either side of the vanished lip. 
From the junction of these wings issues a round 
stalk, about one quarter of an inch long, and 
slightly hairy, called the “column.” It widens out 
at the tip, forming a pretty table, rather more than 
one-third of an inch long and wide. This table 
serves no purpose in our inquiry ; it obstructs the 
view, and we will remove it ; but the reader under- 
stands, of course, that these amputations cannot 
be performed when business is intended. Now 
—the table snipped off—we see those practical 
parts of the flower that interest us. Beneath its 
protection, the column divides into three knobbly 
excrescences, the central plain, those on either 
side of it curling back and down, each bearing at 
its extremity a pad, the size of a small pin’s head, 
outlined distinctly with a brown colour. It is 
quite impossible to mistake these things; equally 
