128 ALTERATION OF POSITION. 
similarly detached from the ovary simultaneously with 
the extension of the axis. Here the petals were in- 
creased in number and variously modified, the stamens 
also; while in the centre and at the top of the flower, 
conjoined at the base with some imperfect stamens, 
was a carpel open along its ovuliferous margins. Such 
instances as these seem to be the first stages of a 
change which, carried out more perfectly, would result 
in the formation of a new bud on the extremity of the 
rolonged axis. 
In Or chidacee, among which family I have now met 
with several instances of pr olification, the ovary seems 
usually to be absent. Fig. 63 shows a prolified flower 

Fic. 63.— Median prolification in Orchis pyramidalis, the outer seg- 
ments of the perianth regular and reflexed. 
of Orchis pyramidalis in which the perianth was nearly 
regular, the central portions of the flower absent, and 
their place supplied by a new mimature raceme. This 
specimen was forw arded to me by Dr. Moore, of 
Glasnevin. 
As might be expected, it very rarely happens that 
median prolification occurs without some other cleviation 
in one or more parts of the flower being simultaneously 
manifested. Some of these changes have been already 
mentioned, but others are commonly met with, as, for 
instance, the multiplication or doubling, as it is termed, 
of the petals ; others, though less frequent, are of more 
