THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. S3 



flower now under review is one of these. Like most orchids it has 

 an arrangeaient of parts which renders it very difficult, if not impos- 

 sible, to be fertiHzed by its own pollen. The stamens and pistils are 

 united into a single organ called the " Column," which projects 

 forward from the stem into the open space at the top, and within 

 the sack-like labellum or " lip." The stamens lie back of the stigma 

 in such a position that the pollen could not, except by the help of 

 insects or other artificial means, be transferred from the one to the 

 other. But the flower is admirably contrived so as to solicit and 

 use the help which such insects as bees and flies may bring to it. 

 The large, gayly colored pendant bag, which makes the most con- 

 spicuous part of the flower, is opened with a narrow slit down the 

 front, and the edges of the opening are turned inwards. This forms 

 a regular trap, easy to get into (as most traps are), but quite impos- 

 sible to get out of — at least by the same door. The " busy bee," 

 searching for toothsome morsels, easily penetrates to the interior of 

 this floral sac through the narrow open door. Once in, and satisfied, 

 he looks about him for a way out. He finds it at last, but not by 

 the way he came in. At the top of the flower, on either side of the 

 " Column," he finds a passage into the open air, quite wide enough 

 for a small but enterprising bee to push his way through. In doing 

 this, however, he brushes against and frequently carries away upon 

 his hairy sides or back the sticky pollen masses of the open anthers. 

 Now, if he enters another flower of the same species, as he will be 

 very likely to do if he got something to his taste in the other, and in 

 due time makes his exit through the only open door, he will certainly 

 get some of this pollen on the stigmatic surface of that flower, and 

 fertilize it, for the stigma is covered with minute papillae, like the 

 teeth of a comb, which project forward, and the pollen is effectually 

 combed off him as he goes by. 



Yet, notwithstanding this elaborate contrivance for fertilization, 

 and this curious adaptation of means to that end, it remains true, 

 as I have proved by actual observation, that few plants are ever 

 fertile, they being chiefly propagated by the root, which keeps its 

 life from year to year. 



Just one more example, to give me an opportunity to speak of 

 another and very different fertilizing agency, namely, the wind. 

 Wind-fertilized plants, as a rule, are not attractive, by reason of the 

 almost colorless or entirely absent petals, and the one I choose is, 



