88 REMARKABLE FLOWERS. [CHAP. 



following: "This orchid has part of its labellum, or 

 lower lip, hollowed out into a great bucket, into 

 which drops of almost pure water continually fall 

 from two secreting horns which stand above it ; and 

 when the bucket is half full, the water overflows by 

 a spout on one side. The basal part of the labellum 

 stands over the bucket, and is itself hollowed out 

 into a sort of chamber with two lateral entrances ; 

 within this chamber there are curious fleshy ridges. 

 The ingenious man; if he had not witnessed what 

 takes place, could never have imagined what purpose 

 all these parts serve. But Dr. Criiger saw crowds of 

 large humble-bees visiting the gigantic flowers of this 

 orchid, not in order to suck nectar, but to gnaw off 

 the ridges within the chamber above the bucket ; in 

 doing this they frequently pushed each other into 

 the bucket, and their wings being thus wetted they 

 could not fly away, but were compelled to crawl out 

 through the passage formed by the spout or over- 

 flow. Dr. Criiger saw a 'continual procession' of 

 bees thus crawling out of their involuntary bath. 

 The passage is narrow, and is roofed over by the 

 column, so that a bee, in forcing its way out, first 

 rubs its back against the viscid stigma and then 

 against the viscid glands of the pollen masses. The 

 pollen masses are thus glued to the back, of the bee 

 which first happens to crawl out through the passage 

 of a lately expanded flower, and are thus carried 

 away. Dr. Criiger sent me a flower in spirits of 

 wine, with a bee which he had killed before it quite 

 crawled out with a pollen mass still fastened to its 

 back. When the bee, thus provided, flies to another 



