Bibliographical Notices. S87 



nists. He says, "We see a flower patiently waiting with its an- 

 tennae stretched forth in a well-adapted position, ready to give 

 notice whenever an insect puts its head into the cavity of the label- 

 lum. The female Monachanthusy not having poUinia to eject, is 

 destitute of antennae. In the male and hermaphrodite forms, namely 

 Catasetum tridentatum and Myanthus, the polHnia He doubled up 

 like a spring, ready to be instantaneously shot forth when the an- 

 tennae are touched ; the disk end is always projected foremost, and 

 is coated with viscid matter, which quickly sets hard, and firmly 

 affixes the hinged pedicel to the insect's body. The insect flies from 

 flower to flower, till at last it visits a female or hermaphrodite plant ; 

 it then inserts one of the masses of pollen into the stigmatic cavity. 

 When the insect flies away, the elastic caudicle, made weak enough 

 to yield to the viscidity of the stigmatic surface, breaks, and leaves 

 behind the pollen-mass ; then the pollen-tubes slowly protrude, pene- 

 trate the stigmatic canal, and the act of fertilization is completed. 

 Who would have been bold enough," he adds, " to have surmised that 

 the propagation of a species should have depended on so complex, so 

 apparently artificial, and yet so admirable an arrangement?" 



The consequence deduced by Mr. Darwin from the facts above 

 referred to is stated by him in the following words : — '* Considering 

 how precious the pollen of Orchids evidently is, and what care has 

 been bestowed on its organization and on the accessory parts, — con- 

 sidering that the anther always stands close behind or above the 

 stigma, self-fertilization would have been an incomparably safer pro- 

 cess than the transportal of the pollen from flower to flower. It ia 

 an astonishing fact that self-fertilization should not have been an 

 habitual occurrence. It apparently demonstrates to us that there 

 must be something injurious in the process. Nature thus tells us, 

 in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors perpetual self-fer- 

 tilization." 



To this conclusion we may be permitted to demur. Even amongst 

 Orchids, according to Mr. Darwin, some species, the most striking 

 of which is the Bee-Orchis {Ophrys apifera), are organized for self- 

 fertilization ; and we do not see why the mere fact of the close juxta- 

 position of the sexual organs, coupled with the necessity for the im- 

 pregnation of one flower by the pollen of another (admitting this to 

 the fullest extent), should have more weight in proving that " Nature 

 abhors self-fertilization " than the perfectly well-known fact that, 

 whilst the majority of plants bear hermaphrodite flowers, others are 

 monoicious and dioecious. It seems to us that, curious and interesting 

 as are the phenomena revealed to us by Mr. Darwin, they are far 

 from giving any support to the theory that self-impregnation is ab- 

 horrent to Nature, especially as there are many plants and animals 

 in which, as far as we are aware, " perpetual self-fertilization " must 

 prevail. 



Apart from this theory and that of "natural selection," which we 

 cannot think is much advanced by the present volume, we must 

 welcome this work of Mr. Darwin's as a most important and inter- 

 esting addition to botanical literature. It contains the details of a 



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