ORCHIDACEiE 



unaltered.^ In other words it would differ onl}^ from its West 

 Indian congener in respect to the anthers. That this aberration 

 should be maintained as a variety ^ is clear evidence that in the 

 interpretation of structural deviations, natural affinities when 

 they are clear and self-evident are not to be strained. 



The Habenarias of Florida on the other hand are few. Those 

 species which belong to the Ophrydinge-Habenarieae of Pfitzer 

 form two fairly distinct sections. One of these sections is repre- 

 sented by a single species, namely, Habenaria odontopetala which 

 was originally described as a native of Mexico and which is also 

 known to inhabit the West Indies. This species has been placed 

 in a new genus, described by Dr. J. K. Small as Habenella, and 

 characterized by structural peculiarities of the flower. It is but 

 one species of a small American group, nearly related to Habe- 

 naria strictissima and H. eustachya^ and differs from other Flori- 

 dian Habenarias in little else except the unappendaged petals 

 and undivided labellum ; yet its affinity with those species which 

 have divided petals and a three-parted lip is very evident, as 

 at the base both petals and lip have rudimentary processes. 



In striking contrast to the treatment of the genus Habenaria 

 which allows the segregation of Habenaria odontopetala we 

 have Sir J. D. Hooker's in the Flora of British India. "I ac- 

 cept Bentham's view," he writes, "that the genera which he has 

 brought under it [Habenaria] cannot be separated from one 

 another by natural or artificial characters. To these Henniniuvi 

 should be added, were it not for the consequent disturbance of 

 much nomenclature and the multiplication of synonyms ; and 

 so should also be JDiplomeris and Hemipilia, which, though they 

 have recognizable differential characters, these are of less impor- 



1 See T. H. Morgan, Evolution and Adaptation, p. 90. 



2 In a recent publication this anomalous Epidendrum has been raised to specific rank. 



[6 ] 



