56 orifT.E.H. Chap. II. 



that the flowers voseniblod bees in order to deter their 

 visits, but this seems extremely improbable. The 

 flowers with their jiink sepals do not resemble any- 

 British bee, and it is probably true, as I have heard it 

 said, that the plant received its name merely from the 

 hairy labellum being somewhat like the abdomen of a 

 liumble-bee. We see how fanciful many of the names 

 are, — one species being called the Lizard and another 

 the Frosr Orchis. The resemblance of 0. muscifera to 

 a fly is very much closer than that of 0. apifera to a 

 bee ; and yet the fertilisation of the former absolutely 

 depends on and is effected by the means of insects. 



All the foreaoin^ observations relate to Eno-land, 

 but 3Ir. jMoggridge made similar ones on the Bee 

 Ophrys in Northern Italy and Southern France, as did 

 Treviranus* in Germany, and Dr. Hooker in Morocco. 

 We may therefore conclude, — from the pollinia spon- 

 taneously falling on the stigma — from the co-related 

 structure of all the parts for this purpose — and from 

 almost all the flowers producing seed-capsules — that 

 this plant has been specially adapted for self-fertilisa- 

 tion. But there is another side to the case. 



When an object is pushed against one of the 

 pouches of the rostellum, the lip is depressed, and the 

 large viscid disc adheres flrmly to it ; and when the 

 object is removed, so is the pollinium, but perhaps 

 not quite so readily as in the other species of 

 Uj)hrys. Even after the pollen-masses have naturally 

 fallen out of their cells on to the stigma, their removal 

 can sometimes be thus eftected. As soon as the disc is 



1 S29, p. 25, says : " jMr. Pi ice cannot conjecture, 

 has frequently witnessed attacks * 'Bot. Zeitung,' 1SG3, p. 241. 



made upon tlic 15. c Orchis by n, This botanist at first doubted my 



o.'c, siiiiih.r to tl.ose of the observations on Ophrys apifera 



troublesome Api« muscorum." and a raji/A-ra, but has since tally 



What this sentence meaus I confirmed them. 



