A, Gray on a Dimerous Flower. 195 
— _— capsules, corpuscles and nuclei with the utmost 
% ae it 1s our Opinion that henceforward photography is 
indispensable to the proper representation of microscopic objects, 
and is, as practised in the Army Medical Museum, even in its 
poi) condition, adequate to the satisfactory representation of 
all microscopic objects that do not depend for their value on 
colors. 
Art. XXVII—WNote on a Regular Dimerous se lower of Cypripe- 
dium candidum; by ASA GRA 
Mr. J. A. Paine, Jr., of New York, who two years ago de- 
tected an interesting monstrosity of Pogonia iho poade: has 
now brought to me, preserved in spirit, a monstrous blossom of 
Cypripedium candidum, which demands a recor 
_ The plant bears two flowers: the axillary one is normal; i 
terminal one exhibits the following peculiarities. The low 
fe of the bract forms a sheath which encloses the ovary. The 
labellum is wanting; and there are two phe stamens, the su- 
pernumerary one being opposite the other, i.e. on the side of 
the style where the labellum belongs. ocardinsly the first im- 
pression would be that the labellum is here transformed into a 
sterile stamen. The latter, however, car with the normal 
sterile stamen in its insertion as well as in shape, being x Spon 
adnate to the base of the style. Moiesres the anteposed sep 
is exactly like the other, has a good midrib and an entire Pe ee 
the two sterile stamens are anteposed to the two sepals, so 
is longer than usual, is pate and erect; tke biead disciform 
stigma therefore faces upwards ; it is oval and symmetrical, and 
alight groove across its middle shows it to be dimerous. The 
placentze, accordingly, are only two. The groove on the stigma 
and Be placentz are in line with the fertile stamens. 
re, therefore, is a symmetrical and complete, regular, but 
Bienen orchideous flower, the first verticil of stamens not an- 
theriferous, the ene antheriferous, the carpels alternate with 
these; and here we have clear (and perhaps the first direct) de- 
monstration that the orchideous type of flower has two stamin 
Verticils, as Brown always insisted. 
