ORCHIDS 25 



and insect to flower must have been. We see how 

 the particular species of orchid must have chosen the 

 particular species of bee, and the particular species 

 of bee that particular species of orchid, and the bee 

 and orchid set themselves to adapt themselves to one 

 another, the orchid using all the devices of colour, 

 scent, sweetness of honey, to attract the insect, and 

 gradually shaping itself so that the insect can better 

 reach the honey, and the insect lengthening its 

 proboscis and otherwise adapting itself so that it can 

 better secure what it wants. And we see how per- 

 fectly — how nearly perfectly — the flower is designed 

 for its purpose. 



But what is perhaps most remarkable of all about 

 an orchid is that this marvel of colour and form and 

 of texture of fabric unfolds itself from within a most 

 ungainly, unsightly, unlikely -looking tuber. From 

 shapeless, colourless tubers, which attach themselves 

 to trunks and branches of trees and cling on to rocks, 

 there emerge these peerless aristocrats of the flower- 

 world, finished, polished, immaculate, and reigning 

 supreme through sheer distinction and excellence at 

 every point — and also because theirs is clearly no 

 ephemeral convolvulus-like beauty which will fade 

 and vanish away in a twinkling, but is a beauty 

 intensely matured, strong and deep and firm. 



Of the 450 species of orchids found in the Sikkim 

 Forest, many are very rare. But fortunately the 

 rarest are not the most beautiful in colour and form. 

 Some very beautiful orchids are also very common. 

 The most common are the dendrobiums, of which 

 there are about forty species. The finest and best 



