200 VANDE^E. Chap. YIl. 



fact^ from corroborating the view taken of the function 

 of the antenna? ; for as there are no pollinia to eject, 

 an organ achipted to convey the stimulus from the 

 touch of an insect to the rostellum would be useless. 

 I could find no trace of a viscid disc or pedicel, and 

 no doubt they had been lost ; for Dr. Criiger says * 

 that " the anther of the female flower drops off imme- 

 diately after the opening of the same, i. e. before the 

 flower has reached perfection as regards colour, size, 

 and smell. The disc does not cohere, or very slightly, 

 to the pollen-masses, but drops off about the same 

 time, with the anther ;" leaving behind them the rudi- 

 mentary pollen-masses. 



Instead of a large stigmatic chamber, tliere is a 

 narrow transverse cleft close beneath the small anther. 

 I was able to insert one of the pollen-masses of the 

 male Catasetum into this cleft, which from having been 

 kept in spirits was lined with coagulated beads of 

 viscid matter, and with utriculi. The utriculi, differ- 

 ently from those in Catasetum, were charged (after 

 having been kept in spirits) with brown matter. The 

 ovarium is longer, thicker near the base, and more 

 plainly furrowed than in Catasetum ; the ovule-bearing 

 cords are also much longer, and the ovules more opaque 

 and pulpy, as in all common Orchids. I believe that 

 I saw the opening at the partially inverted end of the 

 testa, with a large projecting nucleus ; but as the speci- 

 mens had been kejit many years in sjiirits and Mere 

 somewhat altered, I dare not speak positively. From 

 these facts alone it is almost certain that 3Ionachanthus 

 is a female plant; and as already stated. Sir R, 

 Schomburgk and Dr. Criiger have both seen it seeding 

 abundantlv. Altogether the flower differs in a most 



" ' Joiun Liiin. f^oc, Bot.' vol viii. 1SG4, p. 127. 



