92 Bog-Trotting for OrcKids 



remains as Nature originally intended all species of 

 orchids, — with the labellum as the upper petal, instead 

 of the lower, as seen in all other native species. It 

 will be observed in species of the Orchid Family that 

 a twist of the seed-pod has taken place: if not a com- 

 plete revolution, at least half a turn. The labellum is, 

 therefore, directed forward on the lower or inferior 

 side, as in the species of Cypripedium, where it appears 

 in the position of a shoe or moccasin, instead of hold- 

 ing itself above like a dome, as originally intended by 

 Nature. Darwin says of this : " An enormous amount 

 of extinction must have swept away a multitude of in- 

 termediate forms, and has left this single genus, now 

 w^idely distributed, as a record of a former and more 

 simple state of the great Orchidean Order." ' 



The ovary of the Grass- Pink is straight, and the 

 labellum so hinged that it falls down like an arch 

 above, bearded with delicate hairs. The column bear- 

 ing the anther, containing four soft pollen-masses, 

 curves slightly at the end, producing a hollow wherein 

 lies the pollinia. The stigmatic surface lies still farther 

 toward the centre of the column. An insect sipping 

 nectar from these flowers, safely enters without dis- 

 tributing the adhesive pollinia, since the anthers con- 

 taining the cells are so hinged that not until he turns 

 to leave the heart of the flower does he swing open the 

 lid of the cup containing the powdery gold, which 

 fastens to the velvet of his coat beneath his bod5^ 

 The next flower of this species, therefore, becomes fer- 

 ' Darwin, Fertilization of Orchids, p. 226. 1895. 



