426 Scienlific Intelligence. 



chamber that fertilization cannot be effected without insect-aid, and this 

 can be given only by means of a proboscis. We find accordingly that 

 a pig's bristle cannot be thrust down to the bottom of the spur and 

 withdrawn without bringing away one of the pollinia. But the anther- 

 cells are very early dehi>;cen"t, and the pollinia are often dislodged as soon 



thev can never ia.\[ over upon their own stigma, as thev habitually do in 

 the'allied— 



—Phtanthera hyperhorea. We have elsewhere stated (this volume, 

 page 260) this species readily, and so far as we could ascertain from 

 a few specimens, regularly stlf-fertilizes and without extraneous aid. 

 We have nothing important to add to tlie brief account of the struc- 

 ture and process ali'eaJy described, — except that the packets of pollen are 



while their viscidity. So that a fitting insect, on visiting the open flow- 

 stigma underneath, will yet catch one or both the discs upon his probos- 

 cis, carry oti" the pollinia "(which may be readily detached from the stigma, 



the stigmas of other flowers of other iiidividuals, and thus effect occa- 

 sionally the crossing which is so uniformly effected in most species of the 



lack of sufficient crossing in this species, wherever proper 

 where they do not, it will be prolific without them. We have observea 

 that this species is very fertile, usually maturing all its ovaries. Natura 

 non nail an.ltatim. nnH i« mn,A flpvihU s,nrl diversified in her ways than 

 occasional or habitual self fer- 



- ., iridentala is an additional instance of the kind, as we 



have elsewhere intimated (p. 260, foot-note), and one apparently so r^ 

 markable that we hesitate to bring forward our too scanty observations 

 until another summer afibrds an opportunity to test them. We may 

 venture to say, however, that, although the anther-cells open before m 

 flower expands, and the pollen-masses are often spontaneuosly dislodge , 

 -the discs being still in'placo,-yet, so far as we can see, they can no of 

 themselves fall upon or reach the stigma beneath. To do this they m«s^t 

 be conveyed, in the usual way, upon an insect's proboscis, and most pro^^ 

 ably they often are so conveyed from one flower to another. Alf=o, 

 pollen-packets are still more loose and separable than in /*'«^««^^f''^ ^T 

 perborea ; many of them are found spontaneously detached m the ^^ 

 grown flower-bud or freshly expanded blossom, lying upon the open a _ 

 ther and adjacent parts, and especially upon the naked-cellular tip ot i 

 narrow process of the rostellum which rises between the two discs, a 

 upon the cellular summit of the process outside of each disc. These a 

 soft, moist, and somewhat viscid. The pollen which falls upon them a^^ 

 heres there, and sends down pollen-tubes freely into their substance, -^ 

 that they appear to act as stigmas; although the normal stigma is to 

 in its proper place and of ordinary appearance underneath the discs. 



