FRUCTIFICATION. 
Tas. VIII. 
A view of the pollen-masses of BLETIA VERECUNDAa dissolved 
in water; from a sketch by Mr. Bauer in 1801. 
This figure is to shew the real nature of the waxy pollen masses of 
Orchideous plants. When examined as represented in this figure they 
are found to consist of innumerable particles of pollen cohering in pairs, 
threes, or fours, by means of a delicate, transparent, elastic web. The 
central part which connects the four lobes is what appears under the 
form of connecting filaments or straps, which are found from this figure 
to be a mere plexus of this elastic web, with a small quantity of loosely 
cohering grains of pollen scattered among it. Magnified 100 times. 
The separate figure, of a grain and some granules of pollen, is mag- 
nified 400 times. 
