32 Transactions of the South African Philosophical Society. 



describe it briefly. In justice to Mr. Schlechter I must mention 

 that he recognised the peloric nature of the flowers handed to me, 

 and that he asked me to investigate them. 



In the genus Disa " the sepals * are nearly equal in length, free ; 

 the odd one usually posticous, more rarely anticous, galeate, vaulted or 

 nearly flat, spurred, saccate, or umbonate." In the flower which I am 

 describing they were nearly equal in size, all of them were hooded 

 and saccate (Plate I, Fig. 1 D), the odd one was anticous. " The petals 

 [in this genus] are very various in shape, usually much smaller than 

 the sepals." In our flower they were small linear structures (Fig. 1 C), 

 concave on their inner sides, all of them were again of about the same 

 size, and a " labellum " was, therefore, not observable. There was 

 a distinct column which was free from the foliar structures just 

 mentioned. It bore three stamens of equal size and proportions 

 (Fig. 1 A st), alternating with the petals. Alternating with these, 

 and therefore opposite the petals, there followed three more or less 

 cuneate structures, which I take to be staminodes (Fig. 1 A st'). 

 Although no pollen was, even in its initial stages, formed in them, their 

 appearance would have reminded any botanist at once of stamens, 

 and I think that my interpretation of these structures will not be 

 challenged. In the centre of the column a rounded triangular 

 protuberance could be distinguished. It was somewhat depressed 

 in the centre and raised slightly towards the three corners of the 

 triangle. These latter alternated with the structures which I have 

 called staminodes, and I have no hesitation in considering the three 

 raised portions of the central part of the flower as stigmata (Fig. 1 

 A stg). It will be seen at once when glancing at my sketch of this 

 flower (fig. 1 A), which represents it with all parts spread out, 

 that if my interpretation of its various parts is correct, it has the 

 theoretical structure of an orchid flower. As all three stigmata 

 are equally developed, a rostellum is, of course, absent. Whether 

 they could have become functionally active is not in my power to 

 decide, especially as the flower was still young, and a normal flower 

 of corresponding age would probably not have been ready yet to 

 discharge its pollen, even if circumstances had been favourable. It 

 will be noticed in my sketch that the pollen sacs were tailed at the 

 lower end, and it is perhaps worthy of mention that pollen was con- 

 tained even in these tails. There was no sign of the eventual forma- 

 tion of caudicles, and none of the stigmata showed any peculiarity 

 indicating the formation of the glands normally formed on the 

 rostellum, the function of which is to provide a sticky substance for 

 the removal of the pollinia by the agency of insects. 



* The passages in inverted commas are taken from Mr. H. Bolus's ' Orchids of 

 the Cape Peninsula,' p. 134. 



