398 MEIOPHYLLY OF THE 
In Orchidacee entire absence of the labellum, fre- 
quently without any other perceptible change, is of 
common occurrence. The writer has seen numerous 
specimens of the kind in Ophrys apifera and O. arani- 
fera; also in Dendrobium mobile, Airides odoratum, 
Cypripedium villoswm, Listera ovata, &c. Morren’ 
mentions analogous deficiencies in Zygopetalum maail- 
lave, Oalanthe sp., and Cattleya Forbesii. In most of 
these there was also a fusion of the two lower sepals, 
which were so twisted out of place as to occupy the 
situation usually held by the labellum. At the same 
time the column was partially atrophied. To this 
deficiency of the lip the author just quoted proposed 
to apply the term acheilary, a-yeAapov. Mr. Mogeridge 
has communicated to the author an account of certain 
flowers of Ophrys aranifera, in which the petals were 
deficient, sometimes completely, at other times one or 
two only were present. 
Meiophylly of the andrecium—Suppression of one or 
more stamens, independently of lke defects in other 
whorls, is not uncommon, even as a normal occurrence, 
e.g. m Carlemannia, where the flower, though regular, 
has only two stamens, and other similar deficiencies 
are common in Dilleniads. 
Seringe relates the occurrence of suppression of 
some of the stamens in Diplotavis temufolia,? St. 
Hilaire in Cardamine hirsuta, others in C. sylvatica. 
In Caryophyllacee suppression of one or more sta- 
mens has been observed in Mollugo cerviana, Arenaria 
tetraquetra, Cerastium, &c.’ Among violets the writer 
has observed numerous flowers in which two or three 
stamens were suppressed. Chatin* alludes to a similar 
reduction in Tropeolum, while in flowers that are 
usually didynamous absence of two or more of the 
stamens is not unfrequent, ¢. g.in Antirrhinwn, Digitalis, 
1 «Bull. Acad. Belg.,’ t. xix, part 1, p. 255. 
PEN Ob; 1, p(s tab. 1.0.97. 
3 See Gay, ‘Ann. Se. Nat.,’ m1, p. 27. 
4 * Ann. Se. Nat.,’ 4 ser., v. p. 305, 
. 
