2io IN THE GUIANA FOREST. 



of the insect by their peculiar sticky disk, and are 

 thus carried from flower to flower to fertilise others 

 than the one in which they were developed. 



Of course we cannot stand up and watch these 

 operations when paddling up a creek ; we must 

 bring the plants into our gardens on the coast to 

 do that. This is unfortunate in many cases, as the 

 insects necessary for particular species only live in 

 or near the forest. Here and there we discover 

 that a white flower is fertilised by a moth, or 

 suspect that certain others benefit from the visits 

 of butterflies ; but beyond the two genera we have 

 mentioned no others have come under close obser- 

 vation. Possibly there may be operations going 

 on in other genera of which we know little or 

 nothing, almost as interesting as those in Cory- 

 anthes and Catasetum ; but we can only guess the 

 purpose of their contrivances, which are so nume- 

 rous and puzzling. 



