220 VANDE/E. Chap. Vll. 



needle, nut the anthor-liinge as in the last sjjecies, but 

 the apex of the column of one flower, the polliniuni 

 was instantly ejected. The bases of the petals and 

 sepals are not swollen and succulent like those of 

 M. ignea ; and I have little doubt that insects gnaw 

 the labellum, which is thick and fleshy, with the same 

 peculiar taste as in Catasetum. If an insect were to 

 gnaw the terminal cup, it could hardly fail to touch 

 the apex of the column, and then the polliniuni would 

 swing upwards and adhere to some part of the insect's 

 body. The pedicels of the pollinia straighten them- 

 selves and the anther-cases are cast off, in about fifteen 

 minutes after the act of ejection. AVe may therefore 

 confidently believe that this species is fertilised in the 

 same j)eculiar manner as Mormocles ignea. 



Cycnoches ventricosum. — Mr. Yeitch was so kind as to 

 send me on two occasions several flowers and flower- 

 buds of this extraordinary plant. A sketch of a 

 flower in its natural position, with one sepal cut off", 

 is shown at fig. 33 (p. 222), and a longitudinal section 

 through a young bud at fig. 34 (p. 223). 



The labellum is thick and fleshy, with the usual 

 taste of this organ in the Catasetidse ; it resembles in 

 shape a shallow basin turned upside down. The two 

 other petals and the three sepals are reflexed. The 

 column is almost cylindrical, thin, flexible, elastic 

 and of extraordinary length. It curves round so 

 as to bring the stigma and anther opposite to and 

 beneath the convex surface of the labellum. The 

 apex of the column is not nearly so much produced as 

 in Mormodes and Catasetum. The pollinia closely 

 resemble those of Mormodes ; but the disc is larger, 

 and its curtain, which is fringed, is so large that it 

 covers the whole entrance into the stigmatic chamber. 

 The structure of these parts is best seen in the section, 



