262 FERTILISATION [i860. 



but was ultimately made out. A passage in a letter chiefly 

 relating to Leschenaultia seems to show that it was only in 

 the spring of 1860 that he began widely to apply his know- 

 ledge to the relation of insects to other flowers. This is 

 somewhat surprising, when we remember that he had read 

 Sprengel many years before. He wrote (May 14) : 



" I should look at this curious contrivance as specially 

 related to visits of insects ; as I begin to think is almost 

 universally the case." 



Even in July 1862 he wrote to Dr. Asa Gray : 



"There is no end to the adaptations. Ought not these 

 cases to make one very cautious when one doubts about the 

 use of all parts? I fully believe that the structure of all 

 irregular flowers is governed in relation to insects. Insects 

 are the Lords of the floral (to quote the witty Athen&um) 

 world." 



He was probably attracted to the study of Orchids by 

 the fact that several kinds are common near Down. The 

 letters of 1860 show that these plants occupied a good deal of 

 his attention; and in 1861 he gave part of the summer, and 

 all the autumn to the subject. He evidently considered 

 himself idle for wasting time on Orchids which ought to 

 have been given to ' Variation under Domestication.' Thus 

 he wrote : 



" There is to me incomparably more interest in observing 

 than in writing ; but I feel quite guilty in trespassing on 

 these subjects, and not sticking to varieties of the con- 

 founded cocks, hens and ducks. I hear that Lyell is savage 

 at me. I shall never resist Linum next summer." 



It was in the summer of 1860 that he made out one of the 

 most striking and familiar facts in the book, namely, the 

 manner in which the pollen masses in Orchis are adapted 

 for removal by insects. He wrote to Sir J. D. Hooker 

 July 12 : 



" I have been examining Orchis pyramidalis, and it almost 



