THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 219 



The flowerstalks, four feet long, support at the end a 

 single flower, bearing a singular and striking resem- 

 blance to a butterfly on the wing, not only in general 

 outline, but in some of its details, both of form and col- 

 or. The centre of the flower seems a mimicry of 

 the body of the insect ; the sepals, long, narrow and 

 slightly curved, represent in a wonderful manner in 

 shape and position the antennae of the butterfly, while 

 the petals represent the wings, and the labellum or lip 

 the expanded body of the insect. The striking and 

 wonderful form of this flower, the brilliancy of its col- 

 or, the position at the end of a long, neutral-tinted elas- 

 ic, wire-like stem, when seen moving, we might al- 

 most say fluttering, like an insect, with every current 

 of air, remote and apparently unconnected with any 

 root or bulb, it requires no very vigorous exercise of 

 the imagination to believe it to be not a flower, but 

 a gayly-colored butterfly flitting among surrounding 

 leaves and flowers. 



But their number is almost endless ; there is a 

 spider-orchis and a bee-orchis, an orchis like a fly, 

 one like a man, and another like a lizard. One is the 

 very image of a swan, with arched nejt and gently 

 elevated wings (Cynoches ventricosum), while another 

 (Cabaestum viride) opens a beautiful capote, with 

 bows and strings complete, just the thing for a well- 

 grown fairy on a summer's evening. 



SCKOPHULARIN^E 



This elegant flower is the Antirrhinum graccum, 

 and belongs to the family of the Scrophularineae 



