"Blossom Hosts and Insect Guests 



attaches its pollen masses to the bulging eyes, or 

 perchance to the capillary tongue ! And thus in 

 endless modifications, evidences all of the same 

 deep vital purpose. 



And what is an orchid? How are we to know 



,s/ijni* 



that this blossom which 



;3^7'H^ 



cifrto; 



Fig. 



we plucked is an orchid ? 

 The average reader will 

 exclaim, " Because it is an 

 air-plant " — the essential 

 requisite, it would seem, 

 in the popular mind. Of 

 over 3,000 known species 

 of orchids, it is true a 

 great majority are air-plants, or epiphytes — growing 

 upon trees and other plants, obtaining their sus- 

 tenance from the air, and not truly parasitic ; but 

 of the fifty-odd species of the northeastern United 

 States, not one is of this character, all growing in 

 the ground, like other plants. It is only by the 

 botanical structure of the flowers that the orchid 

 may be distinguished, the epiphytic character being 

 of little significance botanically. 



A brief glance at this structural peculiarity may 

 properly precede our more elaborate consideration 

 of a few species of these remarkable flowers. 



26 



