Cbap. IV, EPIPACTIS PALUSTRIS. 99 



tliat the distal hinged portion of the labellum was of 

 importance in the fertilisation of the flowers, I asked 

 Mr. More to remove this part from some young flowers, 

 and to mark them. He tried the experiment on eleven 

 flowers, three of which did not produce seed-capsules; 

 but this may have been accidental. Of the eight 

 capsules which were produced, two contained about as 

 many seeds as those from unmutilated flowers on the 

 same plant ; but six capsules contained much fewer 

 seeds. jMost of the seeds were well-formed. These 

 experiments, as far as they go, support the view that 

 the distal part of the labellum is of importance in 

 causing insects to enter and leave the flowers in the 

 best manner for their fertilisation. 



Since the appearance of the first edition of this book, 

 my son William has observed for me this Epipactis in 

 the Isle of Wight. Hive-bees seem to be the chief 

 agents in fertilisation ; for he saw them visit about a 

 score of flowers, and many had pollen-masses attached 

 to their foreheads, just above the mandibles. I had 

 supposed that insects always crawled into the flowers : 

 but hive-bees are too large to do this; they always 

 olung, whilst sucking the nectar, to the distal and 

 hinged half of the labellum, which was thus pressed 

 downwards. Owing to this part being elastic and 

 tending to spring up, the bees, as they left the flowers, 

 seemed to fly rather upwards ; and this favoured, in 

 the manne»r previously explained, the complete with- 

 drawal of the iiollen-masses, quite as well as if the 

 insects had crawled, in an upward direction, out of 

 the flower. Perhaps the upward movement may not 

 be so necessary in all cases as I had supposed ; for, 

 judging from the manner in which the pollen-masses 

 were attached to the hive-bees, the back part of their 

 heads could hardly lail to press against and lift up the 



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