82 BEE ORCHIS. 



that tlie people of Panama call it Spirito Santo, 

 or Holy Ghost plant. 



Our Bee Orchis blossoms in July. It is 

 about a foot high, and has large and rather 

 distant floAvers. Its brown velvety lip, varie- 

 gated with yellow, is much like the body of 

 a large bee ; and the pm'plish petals look like 

 the expanded wings of the insect, which had 

 just settled on the flower-stem. It is the 

 handsomest of our native orchis plants, and 

 grows on chalky soils in many parts of 

 England, but will not long survive transplant- 

 ing to a garden. Langhorne has some very 

 descriptive lines on this flower. 



" See on tlie floweret's velvet breast, 

 How close the busy vagi-aut lies ! 

 His thin-wrought j^lume, his downy breast, 

 The ambrosial gold that swells his thighs. 



" Perhaps his fragrant load may bind 



His limbs ; — we'll set the captive free. 

 I sought the living Bee to find, 

 And found the picture of a Bee." 



