50 OPHRE.E. Chap. II. 



})reseiits a woiulerfiil cuiitrust iu every flower producing 

 a capsule. 



Ophr])8 aranifera, or the Spider Oplirys. — I am in- 

 debted to 31 r. Oxenden for some spikes of this rare 

 Fig. 6. species. AAliilst tlie jjoUinia 



remain enclosed Avithin their 

 cells, the lower part of the cau- 

 dicle projects up in a straight 

 line from the viscid disc, and 

 therefore has a very difterent 

 11 A form from the corresponding 



Ophrys aranifera. part of the Caudiclc of 0. milS- 



A. Poiiinium before the act of ciferci ; but the Upper part (A, 



depression. „ ^s . ,. , i , ,• i 



B. Poiiinium after the act of hg. b) IS a little Ijont lorward, 



depression. ^]^^i ig^ towards the labellum. 



The point of attachment of the caudicle to the disc 

 is hidden within the bases of the anther-cells, and 

 is thus kept damp ; consequently, as soon as the 

 pollinia are exposed to the air, the usual movement of 

 depression takes place, and they sweep through an 

 anale of about ninetv desfrees. Bv this movement 

 they assume, supposing them to be attached to an 

 insect's head, a position exactly adapted for striking 

 the sti<i:matic surface, which is situated, relativelv to 

 the pouch-formed rostella, rather lower do^^n in the 

 flower than in the Fly Ophrys. 



I examined fourteen flowers of the Spider Ophrys, 

 several of which were partly withered ; and in none 

 were both pollinia, and in three alone was one poiiinium 

 removed. Hence this species, like the Fly Ophrys, 

 is but little visited by insects in England. In parts 

 of Italy it is even less visited, for Delpino states* 

 that in liiguria hardly one flower out of 3UU0 sets a 



UU. Osserv. s. Dicegamia,' &c. Parte i. 1S68-G9, p. 177. 



