82 ORCHIDS. 
the seed. Reproduction by germination of plants with their 
own pollen (or breeding in and in, as this is called) is not apt 
to give desirable stock; and of all the different tribes and 
species,. none so readily accept the process of hybridizing and 
cross-fertilization, as the Cypripedium. 
It is a singularity of the great orchid family, that few of 
all the species are capable, by themselves, of perpetuation, but 
most varieties are wholly dependent for the germination of seed, 
and their future growth, upon insect agency. These little minis- 
ters of reproduction—generally bees and the butterfly,—are 
attracted by the perfume, or by their hunger, to the bosom of 
flowers where pollen is stored. While feeding or visiting in the 
blossom, a portion of the pollen adheres to the insect, and is 
by it soon carried to a needed spot,—-some pistillate plant. The 
ovaries expectantly open, receive the pollen, close at once, and 
hold the seed deposit till it becomes a floral birth. 
The poet Cowper gives scientific truth, in the following 
lines, respecting orchid reproduction : — 
“These have their sexes, and, when summer shines, 
The bee transports the fertilizing meal 
From flower to flower, and e’en the breathing air 
Watts the rich prize to its appropriate use.” 
Charles Darwin, in his admirable book on Insect Fertiliza- 
tion, relates things wonderful on this subject. For example, the 
species called Catasetum has several varieties exclusively stami- 
nate (of the male form), so the pollen must be transported to 
other and pistillate plants, in order to germination. The pollen, 
instead of being placed where likely to touch a visiting insect, 
is quite beyond its reach. Nature has therefore endowed the 
