1887. | BOTANICAL GAZETTE. 107 
When the plants begin to wither, or immediately after ferti- 
lization takes place, the distal portion of the labellum curves 
plant, as well as. in one or two instances, noticed the pollen 
masses still within their cells, but with the corners broken 
off and lying on the stigmatic surface. This breaking up of 
the pollen masses may be spontaneous, but it is materially 
assisted by both wind and rain. : 
n examining numbers of the plant I have found ita 
general rule that the entire pollinia, or a large part of them, 
ave not been removed from such flowers as bear well-filled 
capsules. Now, this of itself seems to me to indicate selt- 
and was surprised to find that in most cases remnants 0 the 
then musty pollen could be distinctly detected within the 
shriveled anther. 
After reading the above remarks one is naturally led to 
ask: Why, if se ee latifolia is so imperfectly fertilized, 
t 
