264 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



founded the generic name Cypripedium, and on which an entire 

 tribe of the great orchidean order, namely, Cypripedieae, is based. 



Cypripedium calceclus, once plentiful in sections in England, 

 .has now become almost extinct, but it is still met with in some 

 parts of Central Europe. This beautiful species is held in much 

 esteem and, indeed, reverence in parts of France where it is given 

 the attractive name of "Sabot de la Vierge" and "Soulier de la 

 Notre Dame." The name Cj^ripediimi is derived from the Greek 

 word Kupris, one of the names of Venus and "podion" meaning 

 slipper, in reference to the slipper-like form of the pouch or la- 

 bellum, whence also the popular name Lady's Slipper and Slipper- 

 worts. While some flowers reveal their beauty at first glance 

 others do not manifest it imtil subjected to closer scrutiny. The 

 Cypripedium belongs to the latter class. 



Cypripediums have an interesting history, and when compar- 

 isons are made with any genus belonging to another tribe, we will 

 find that they differ from each other structurally far more than 

 any two flowers of other tribes of Orchidaceae, so we are forced to 

 consider that an enormous amount of extinction must have swept 

 away a m.ultitude of intermediate forms and left this single genus 

 as a record of a former and more simple state of the great Orchi- 

 dean order. Not alone does the structure of the flower furnish 

 the only evidence of the Cypripedes being a more primitive race of 

 orchids than other existing forms. An ecological study tends to 

 the conclusion that the individual plants comprising the various 

 species have existed in great numbers, and have been spread over 

 a much larger area than they at present occupy in the wild state, 

 and a gradual process of extinction has been surely in operation 

 here as it has been with more primitive t3^es in other natural 

 orders. 



The true cause of their gradual extermination may be found 

 when we closely examine the reproductive organs of the flowers. 

 A very cursory examination of these must satisfy the most casual 

 observer that self-fertilization is impossible, and that nature had 

 proclaimed a definite law to the effect that in order to perpetuate 

 their race, fertiH: ation must be effected by the pollen transferred 

 from another flower or plant, and this thru the agency of the 

 insect world. 



A brief description of the structure of this unique flower will 

 reveal the wonderful mechanism by which this cross-fertiliza- 



