398 MKloniYLLY OF THK 



In Orchidaccai entire absence of tlio labellum, fre- 

 quently Avitliout any other perceptible change, is of 

 common occurrence. The writer has seen numerous 

 specimens of the kind in Ojjhrys apifera and 0. arani- 

 fcra; also in Dendrohmm nobile, brides odoratum, 

 Gypripcdium villosum, Listera ovata, &c. Morren^ 

 mentions analogous deficiencies in Zycjopetalum maxil- 

 lare, Calanthe sp., and Gattleya Foi'hesii. In most of 

 these there was also a fusion of the two lower sepals, 

 which were so twisted out of place as to occupy the 

 situation usually held by the labellum. At the same 

 time the column was partially atrophied. To this 

 deficiency of the lip the author just quoted proposed 

 to apply the term acheilary, a-xuXapiov. Mr. Moggindge 

 has communicated to the author an account of certain 

 flowers of Oplirys araniferay in which the petals were 

 deficient, sometimes completely, at other times one or 

 two only were present. 



Meiophylly of the androecium. Suppression of one or 

 more stamens, independently of like defects in other 

 whorls, is not uncommon, even as a normal occurrence, 

 n. g. in Garlemannia, where the flower, though regular, 

 has only two stamens, and other similar deficiencies 

 are common in Dilleniads. 



Seringe relates the occurrence of suppression of 

 some of the stamens in DipJotaxis tenuifoUa,^ St. 

 Hilaire in Cardamine hirsuta, others in C. sylvatica. 



In Caivjophyllacece suppression of one or more sta- 

 mens has been observed in MoUugo cerciana, Arenaria 

 tetraqnetraf Cerastlum^ &c.'^ Among violets the writer 

 has observed numerous flowers in which two or three 

 stamens were suppressed. Chatin* alludes to a similar 

 reduction in Tropcvolum, while in flowers that are 

 usually didynamous absence of two or more of the 

 stamens is not unfrequent, e. g. in Antirrhinum, Digitalis^ 



' ' Bull. Acad, Belg.,' t. xix, part 1, p. 255. 

 - Bnll. Bot..' i, p. 7, tab. i. I 7. 

 ^ See Gay, * Ann. Sc. Nat..' iii, p. 27. 

 * 'Ann. Sc. Nat.,' 4 ser., v. p. 305. 



