THE WELCOMES OF THE FLOWERS 



wherever it grows, and our native list of some 

 fifty species will afford examples of as strange 

 mechanical adaptations as are to be found among 

 Darwin's pages. Indeed, a few of our American 

 species are there described. One example will 

 suffice for present illustration the sweet-pogonia 

 or grass-pink of our sedgy swamps (Pogonia ophi- 

 oglossoides}. Its solitary rosy blossom, nodding 

 on its slender stem above the sedges, is always a 

 welcome episode to the sauntering botanist, and 

 its perfume, suggesting 

 ripe red raspberries, is 

 unique in the wild bou- 

 quet. One of these flow- 

 ers is shown in profile at 

 Fig. 14, its various parts 

 indexed. Concealed be- 

 hind the petals is the col- 

 umn, elsewhere indicated 

 from various points of 

 view. Attracted by its 



color and fragrance, the insect seeks the flower; 

 its outstretched fringy lip offers a cordial invi- 

 tation at its threshold, and conducts its visitor 

 directly to the sweets above. In his entrance, 

 as seen at D (Fig. 15), the narrowed passage 

 compresses his back against the underside of the 



Fig. 14 



10 



