380 ANDRCECIUM. 



which nearly 900 petaloid organs existed in the place 

 of the twenty-five or thirty stamens natural to the 

 plant, the other organs of the flower being in their 

 ordinary condition, with the exception of the pistil, 

 which did not attain its full size. Baillon records the 

 occasional existence of two rows of stamens in Dltaxis 

 lancifoUa. 



Increased number of stamens in orchids, &c. Various de- 

 viations from the ordinary type of orchid structure 

 have been already alluded to under the head of dis- 

 placement, fusion, peloria, substitution, &c., but the 

 alterations presented by the andrcecium in this family 

 are so important in reference to what is considered its 

 natural conformation, that it seems desii'able, in this 

 place, to enter upon the teratological appearances pre- 

 sented by the andrcecium in this order, in somewhat 

 greater detail than usual. The ordinary structure of 

 the flower, with its three sepals, two petals, labellum, 

 column, and inferior ovary, is well known. Such a 

 conformation would be wholly anomalous and inexphc- 

 able were it not that the real number and arrangement 

 of parts have been revealed by various workers labouring 

 to the same end in difierent fields. Thus, Robert 

 Brown, Link, Bauer, Darwin, and others, paid special 

 attention to the minute anatomy and mode of distribu- 

 tion of the vessels; Irmisch, Crueger, Payer, and 

 others, to the evolution of the flower; Lindley, St. 

 Hilaire, and Reichenbach, to the comparison of the 

 completed structures in the various genera and species ; 

 while the teratological observers have been numerous, 

 as will be seen from the selected references cited at 

 the end of this paragraph and in other places. The 

 result of this manifold study has been a pretty 

 general agreement that the structure of the order 

 (omitting minor details) is as follows : A six-parted 

 perianth in two rows, the outer three (sepals) generally 

 regular and equal in shape ; of the inner three (petals 

 or tepals) two are regular, and one, the labellum, very 



